BRI Staff Favorites | A Primary Source Close Read w/ BRI

0:06 Hello and welcome back to Bill of Rights Institute’s Primary Source Close. Today, we’re going to take a little bit different tact if you’ve been on the channel before, we look at different primary sources every week. This week we’re actually going to look at three. We’re coming close to the end of the year here, and we have the opportunity to kind of go back and think about all those documents we wish we would have gotten to. And to help you with that today, I am fortunate to be joined by two

0:28 of my colleagues, Tony Williams and Josh Schmid. Hi guys. Hey Kirk. Hey, Kirk. How are you doing? Good. So as it turned out, we picked these documents at random, just things we wish we would have gotten to, and we’ve chronologically spread them out across American history. So we’re going to start with the causes and necessities of taking up arms from 1775.

0:49 We’re going to look at Abraham Lincoln’s Young Men’s Lyceum address from 1838, and then we’re going to wrap up by looking at Harry Truman’s announcement of the surrender of Japan from 1945. And what I think is interesting about these documents is that as we look at them, again, we pulled them at random, but there are similar themes. And I wondered, we’ve all had a chance to kind of glance these documents, but did that surprise either of you guys?

1:10 Or are you kind of picking up on a theme of these broadcasts? If there are certain themes that we’re kind of pulling out of these documents? Yeah, surprised me. Like, we didn’t coordinate at all, really minus trying to pick things out in different time periods. But, yeah, the fact that there are common themes is surprising.

1:34 Yeah. I might have been a little less surprised just in the sense that even though across time and across space. Whether in the revolution or in the 19th century or into the 20th century and sort of world wars. That they are grappling with themes of what it means to be an American. What it means to live freely. Thinking about our principles.

1:55 Thinking about the health of our democracy and our civic culture. So in my mind, maybe not a surprise that these are perennial issues that Americans have examined over time. Yeah, I think that’s right. I think there are things that emerge from cultures when societies and people get together, and it’s why I think history is important.

2:18 It’s why studying these things, studying these themes and these concepts and these questions continues to yield so many interesting aspects. It allows us to continue to go down different paths and think about things in different ways. So with that, let’s take a look at our first document. Right. So as we mentioned, we’ve got three documents from three different periods of American history

2:39 that we all picked just because they are interesting and exciting. And we’re not ashamed to talk about our excitement about primary source documents around here. So as you see the span time period, like we mentioned. And so let’s just dive right in the causes and necessities of taking a bar. So this document was passed by the Continental Congress

3:00 as sort of a plea to the British Parliament and King about and I guess to the world too, which I think is interesting. And this is why I picked this so often. We look at July 4, 1776, and Decoration Independence as this moment when America emerged and stated its principles for being free.

3:21 And we know some stuff happened with, like, the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act and all these kinds of things and all that stuff built up to July 4, 1776. They passed the Declaration Independence, and that is the moment that we declared everything. But the reason that this document to me is so profound is this is a year before independence. It comes several months after Lexington and Concord have taken place.

3:43 So there has been violence. Things have been escalating in the colonies. And here you see the colonists, the Continental Congress, coming together as subjects of the Crown to plead their case to the world, which they announced the first paragraph pleading their case to the world about why it is that they find themselves suddenly in rebellion against the Crown.

4:07 For them, it wasn’t necessarily rebellion so much as it was then staking out their position within the Empire. In this first section that I pulled, I think, kind of speaks to that, because you can imagine yourself writing this kind of document saying, okay, I’m spelling all this out. And then you get to a point, why am I doing this? Well, I got to tell you why. Well, here’s why. I’m telling you about how all these awful things that have been taking place,

4:28 because if we don’t do something about it, even worse things are going to happen. So, Tony, did I get the history right there? Is that approximately what was going on? And I guess what do you think about this when you pick up this document? What really speaks to you? Yeah absolutely. The colonists are at war, right?

4:49 And so there’s that year-long period, roughly a little bit more in which they’re at war, and yet they’re still not an independent nation, so they’re trying to grapple with their place in the British Empire. Do they want to stay? They’re at war and they’re telling the British

5:11 in the world, as you said, why they were sort of forced to take up arms. And the answer is pretty obvious from a study of American history in the Revolution, is to defend their sacred liberties and to defend their natural rights against what they saw as British tyranny. And those armies going to war against the colonists are probably no greater evidence of that.

5:35 Yeah absolutely. And I think to that point they say here, too, look, this isn’t new. We for ten years incessantly and ineffectually besieged the throne as supplicants. We reasoned, we remonstrated with Parliament in the midst of most mild and decent language. Right. You can feel when you read this document like they’re at their wits end about what they can do.

5:56 They’re trying they’re pleading their case. They’re really putting it forward. Look, we want representation. We want to be heard, and we’re trying to make this work, but we’re seemingly running into these challenges. And, Josh, I know that you look a lot of history, and you look at these themes and things,

6:16 I guess, in looking at this document, what is it to you that kind of, like, jumps out that says, yeah, we’re not the independence. They’re still trying to catch their turns. But what are they, I guess, are the colonists justified in kind of taking this approach? What do you think? Well, it depends on if you’re a Loyalist or not, I guess I would say.

6:37 But if you’re a Patriot, they make a solid argument. They’re starting to invoke consent of the government. That’s one thing that I see. Not a single man of those who assume it is chosen by us. And also just this idea of limited

6:59 government or rule of law such so enormous, so unlimited power. They’re referring to that. I can’t remember what it’s called. Tony, you can tell me. But the declaration that Parliament made that basically said they can make whatever law they deem to be necessary.

7:21 What was that called again? Antony? 1766 decluttery act. Okay. Yeah. So that’s what stood out to me here, is that the Patriots are making their case. Of course they’re doing it and then explaining why they’re fighting, which is a very American thing to do, I think.

7:45 And I think they’re making a really solid case here. Yeah. And it sort of tees up next year’s document, which is when, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to abolish the bonds. That phrase, I think, from the Declaration of Independence becomes even more profound when you begin to read these other documents that show, look,

8:06 they’re at least giving lip service to trying to get to this place. And I included the rather long conclusion here because I think it’s so powerful how they wrap this up. And I think you’re right, Josh. They’re pulling on representative government. They’re pulling on the rule of law. They’re pulling on all these things that they identify as being important.

8:28 And these were questions that had come up in the colonies. So not just in the ten years that they’d been dealing with all these different acts in Britain trying to raise their taxes, but even before that, during the French and Indian War, you have revolts of different continental militias not wanting to be a part of the Crown because they didn’t feel they were getting their contracts recognized in the way that they needed to.

8:51 This is sort of deeply seated part of their political culture and part of their societal culture. And this conclusion to me really speaks to them drawing a line under this. And it always sort of takes me in defense of the freedom that there’s a birthright in which we never enjoyed the late violation of it

9:13 for the protection of our property acquired solely by the honest industry of our forefathers and ourselves against violence actually offered. We have taken up arms. So they’re positioning themselves and this is if you are more on the loyalist side, you can kind of like roll your eyes and say, look, we’re only responding to the violence that you’ve put on us. But I think that from the perspective of the Continental Congress here again

9:35 in 1775, after this violence happens, they’re saying, look, we keep making this case and they do this in the first paragraph. We keep making the case about what it is for us to be truly a part of this empire. And we are now forced to take up arms to defend ourselves because none of those petitions are being heated. And we’re now putting out our case to the world

10:00 in hopes that not only is it recognized, but that the world will understand what it is that’s actually going on here in the colonies. Yeah, what stands out to me here is how they’re framing this as a very limited battle.

10:21 They’re not doing it. We fight not for glory or for conquest. They’re basically saying, look, we’re just trying to defend our homeland. We’re not trying to expand our borders or anything like that. We don’t even want to separate from Great Britain, I say, at this point, so we’re only a year away from the release

10:45 of the Declaration of Independence, but even at this point, they’re saying, you guys are attacking us, and so we’re just trying to defend our lives, but we don’t want to leave yet because they seem more benefit in staying than being independent. Yeah, that line our friends and fellow

11:05 subjects really jumps out at me compared to the document a year later. The Declaration of Independence on the other one that does too, is the very end, thereby to relieve the empire from the calamities of Civil War. I think all the time we think about the American Revolution in the terms of it was a fight for independence, but seeing it in 1775 as a Civil War, a strife within a society, I think is really interesting.

11:26 What do you make of that, Tony? Yes, you see this kind of terminology you’re referred to constantly over the previous decade in this sort of resistance movement where they talk about their British brethren, their brothers talking about the mother country, and they still see themselves as part of the British Empire,

11:49 and they just want to be good subjects, but just not have their rights violated. As you see in the second paragraph, they talk about protecting their freedom, their property, and protecting themselves against violence right. Their lives. And they just want to restore that proper relationship between the colonies and Great Britain.

12:12 Yeah absolutely. And I should have mentioned this at the beginning, but this document was written by Thomas Jefferson and then edited by John Dickinson. And John Dickinson is interesting in that he voted against the Declaration Independent. He voted against the dissolution of the Union with Britain and was against that move in 1776, even though he had been a leading advocate

12:35 against British policies throughout the 1760s and into the 17th. Here is writing what is pretty dramatic language, but that’s a different story for another day. I only had a few minutes here that I could go into my document, but I’m glad I could share with you guys. This is, again, one of those things that I love, taking the Declaration of Independence and giving it a little bit more context.

12:55 And I think this is one of those documents that does it. But with that, Tony, we’ll move further into the move into the 19th century, and I’ll turn it over to you to talk us through Abraham Lincoln’s Young Man’s Lyceum address. Right.

13:16 Well, the context of this is Lincoln is a relatively young man at the time, and Lyceum would be a place of listening to lectures and engaging in friendly intellectual debates of current events and other issues.

13:37 It’s sort of a place of collegial learning, if you will, sort of going back to classical Greece in Plato and Aristotle and so forth. In the context of the speech. Also in the larger society is that there’s a lot of passions being unleashed. There’s a lot of anger. There’s a lot of in moderation because of the anti-abortionist mobs.

14:06 Actual members of Congress are fighting each other in the halls of Congress. A lot of kind of mob rule and anger. Especially over slavery and expansion out west. What was going on down in Texas and its

14:27 conflict with Mexico and the possible ramifications of that. So there’s a lot of contention in society, and I chose it because we seem to be experiencing that same kind of contention, right, and that kind of rise of passions and in moderation and sort of unwillingness to compromise.

14:49 And you see this on social media, unfortunately. You see it among a lot of our politicians and their inability to compromise. And it just seems that we’re increasingly maybe a little less able to have civil conversations about current events, and they weren’t in many ways no different than us.

15:11 And so Lincoln in this address is appealing to reason. He’s appealing to restraint and moderation and trying to listen to the other person’s point of view and have a little less passion.

15:33 Right. He wants a reason to be the underpinnings of a more restrained approach, a more willingness to compromise, and that this can affect not only our politics of the day, but also our civic culture as well. Kirk or Josh, do you see any of that in this particular paragraph?

16:00 Yeah, I think what stands out to me is something that Josh said last time, which is this continued tradition of the rule of law, too, and what that means, right. That giving the parameters around which we can compromise, which is something that Lincoln talks about later in the Lincoln-Douglas debates. But this idea that let the reverence

16:22 for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the listing babe that prattled on her lap, let it be taught in schools and seminaries and colleges. To me. That’s such a powerful line that speaks to what you’re talking about. Tony. Because it gives the opportunity for this thing to be clear. That we can all appeal to and understand.

16:43 To give context to the arguments and the conversations and discussions that we have in the hopes of creating that atmosphere in which we can have productive conversation that moves away from violence and towards something more enabled or higher or. I guess. Better.

17:04 Which just really jumps out to me. Let me pop Josh. Yeah. What stands out to me is this is a good over 20 years before the Civil War, but this is obviously referencing the slavery issue that’s already dividing the country so much.

17:27 And what’s really going to eat away at Lincoln, as well as other more moderate abolitionists, is how can we balance this rule of law with the injustice of slavery? So if the laws are protecting slavery through things like

17:49 the Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution, the state’s ability to regulate slavery and not the national government, at least in the states, not in the territories, how can we balance that out? How can we try to bring an end to slavery

18:09 in a lawful way, or at least as lawful as we can? Right. And I think both of you are definitely on the right track here, because I think what Lincoln is saying is that let’s trust in American democratic institutions. Let’s trust in the rule of law. Let’s trust that these things will support

18:31 greater justice, greater equality, greater liberty, and that we can therefore trust in the deliberative process of democracy. And sometimes it’s slow, right? But it’ll work. And we can get to that place of justice and equality and liberty and these

18:55 constitutional natural rights principles, but we have to trust in the process. We have to trust in the institutions, and we all need to abide by this rule of law. And so if we can go to the next slide. I think there’s one more paragraph from this. And I think. As we said before. Lincoln sees the problem rooted in passions and people

19:20 just following their feelings and not trusting in the process. Not trusting in the institutions. Being unwilling to compromise. Being imprudent in how they go about things. And that he sees this as unproductive to engage in this kind of mob rule. Whether it’s injustice in the south related to the horrible

19:44 treatment of slaves and lynchings and so forth. Or on the other side. With sort of the impassioned anger against abolitionists. With throwing their printing presses into rivers. And even some were killed.

20:04 But then also on the other side, the unwillingness of people like William Lloyd Garrison and other abolitionists who felt they were so right in their principles that they were just unwilling to compromise. What Lincoln says is this is not always prudent. This is not always the right way to go, that sometimes it’s better to have what he

20:25 calls reason cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason. Right. That’s what’s going to furnish the materials for a more democratic approach, a healthier civic culture, a healthier, civil society in deliberative process right. And law making to achieve justice, to achieve American principles.

20:47 And we’re going to do that more through reason than sort of these unmitigated, unfiltered passions and anger and frustration. Yeah. And you can see him sort of channeling that Madisonian understanding of government. Right. James Madison, the Federal Papers famously talks about the challenges of passion.

21:09 But here, I think it’s interesting that he couches it and says, look, passion has helped us, but can do so no more. Right? And I think oftentimes that’s something that’s overlooked. And one of the reasons why I find this Lincoln speech here so profound is reason isn’t intended to replace passion completely. Right. I think passion is important, calling attention to topics and ideas

21:32 that we feel necessary or need to change in society and everything else. I think it needs to be there. I think what Lincoln, at least to me, seems to be arguing here is that it needs to be tempered and we need to understand, look, we’ve all been at our moments where we get angry about something, we’re frustrated with something. But it’s when we’re able to take a step back from that and analyze it and figure out the best way forward that we actually make progress in.

21:55 Lincoln here is saying, look at doing that takes some architecture around us. It takes some habits, it takes some practices, it takes some learning. But when we’re able to do that, we’re able to move towards the best ends that we can possibly move towards. What stood out to me is that last line referencing Washington.

22:18 So trying to find the great unifier during this time. And really, Washington has been always the person that Americans turn to, even in the modern day, that he’s the first American. And really, even if we find some flaws with him,

22:42 as there are flaws with all historical figures, we were able to see him as kind of this representative of the greater American experiment. Yeah, I think it’s rooted in Washington’s character, right. His virtuous character of that sobriety and that calm and that reason.

23:03 And Washington certainly struggled with his temper at times, even during the American Revolution. But he tried to exercise self control. He tried to be calmer, or he tried to show restraint so that he could see the other side. He could see a more deliberative way to go about things.

23:25 And I think that’s the great appeal of Washington here. Yeah absolutely. And thank you, Tony. This is a fun one. Again, wish we could have gotten to it earlier in the year, but I think it’s a great one to bring up now, and that will take sort of a different tack, jump way up into the future over 100 years after Lincoln’s address, and take a look at Harry Truman’s

23:46 announcement of the surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945. Josh, Tony and I both picked sort of these rooted in political history and constitutional structures. You picked something different. So what’s going on with this document? Yeah, what I find really interesting about this document is well, it might not necessarily be rooted in politics.

24:08 It’s still rooted in American ideals to some extent. So Tremend starts off talking about kind of the more less ideals, more just realism about why the war is fought. So

24:29 Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor. They started this and we ended this, is basically what he is saying. And just the simplicity of that, which I think that’s really why World War II, even to this day, stands along with the Civil War as kind

24:52 of the good war, the good fight that America joined in. It was a battle between against aggression, both by the Japanese and the Germans. And we stood up both for ourselves, but also for these broader ideals

25:12 of freedom, liberty of the individual, rescuing these other countries that had been taken over by the aggressive Germans, Italians and Japanese. You can really start to see some of these ideals coming out.

25:35 He’s referring to civilization and civilized. So that’s going to come out more, though, in the next section that we have. So, Tony Kirk, what are your thoughts? Yeah, no, I agree. I honed in myself on the word civilized right, and civilization because I think it implies certain things.

25:56 Right. And in the 20th century, it represented the stark moral difference between those aggressive, totalitarian militaristic powers that were trying to take over big chunks of the world, impose their system, led to millions of deaths in those countries that were defending the ideals

26:22 of natural rights, of democracy and of freedom. There’s also there, at the end of the war, a magnanimity here that we’re not going to just crush Japan and impose this draconian peace on them, but we’re going to be magnanimous in victory.

26:44 We’re going to help them in Germany rebuild, and we’re going to support greater civilization here after this very destructive war. So it’s a defensive civilization during the war, but then also a defensive civilization in rebuilding as well.

27:04 Yes. And what strikes me, too is from a less, I guess, sort of high ideal kind of perspective and just from the rhetoric of the speech. Right. I mean, Truman is clearly trying to send a particular message here, and he’s doing it through symbols. He mentions lots of locations here. He’s making it very concrete, even his final sentence.

27:27 We shall not forget Pearl Harbor The Japanese militarists will not forget the USS Missouri. Right. These two clear symbols of what naked aggression means, which is implied to be that uncivilized attack that’s taking place. This isn’t the way that the world ought to work. It’s not the way that we want it to work. And then this final symbol of the USS Missouri,

27:49 this sort of symbol of resistance and resilience that comes into Tokyo Bay where the actual surrender papers are signed in. That being sort of this sign of a new dawn, for lack of a better word, approaching and in welcoming sort of what this piece is going to mean for the rest of the world. I think it’s just really, like you said, tightly constructed and clear and simple

28:14 and yet powerful, I think, in the way that it’s put together. Definitely. Yeah. Let’s get to that next passage. So this is where Truman is really going to hone in on that idealistic side, I think. So he’s going to talk about liberty.

28:35 The line that really stood out to me is, liberty does not make all men perfect, nor all society secure, but it is provided more solid progress, happiness and decency for more people than any other philosophy of government in history. So he’s really bringing out the benefits

28:55 of liberty here for a flourishing human society. And by liberty, I think he’s invoking broader American ideals, not just the freedom to do what you want, but I think also the ideal of limited government, the ideal of rule of law.

29:15 You can’t have liberty without a stable government. You just need to make sure that that’s a limited government. And so I think what in part makes World War II still the good fight, as I referenced earlier, is that we were able to combine this

29:37 idealistic war with more realistic war of, we were attacked, we’re going to fight back. So it really helped the US that we were fighting against aggression, but we were fighting against this totalitarian aggression. So we were able to really portray this,

29:58 and I think to a very valid extent, of it’s not just self defense. We’re also doing it for other people. And it really helps that doing it for other people is also in our own interest of self defense. Right. And I also think that as we look at the Declaration of Independence and our

30:20 earlier document is not just an expression of the American mind or of American ideals, but really of universal ideals, then we also recognize that Truman in the United States are sticking on behalf of all the Allied powers. Right. And we can name several Britain and France and China and many other countries.

30:47 There’s a recognition that there’s a yearning in human nature. There’s a universal yearning for these principles of liberty and self governance and democratic liberalism. So they’re not just American ideals, but they’re really an appeal to the universal in the human person.

31:09 Yeah absolutely. And I think what stands out to me is actually kind of links our documents today as we’re moving closer to our conclusion here. This line before the one you read, Josh those principles provide the faith, the hope and the opportunity which help men to improve themselves in their lives, which to me, I think is consistent throughout each of these documents.

31:31 None of the documents that we read today, I think, have said, look, if we do this, we therefore have immediate success and wealth and prosperity and everything’s perfect, but it’s instead an opportunity to make the world in a way that benefits the most amount of people. And he says that the system has provided more solid progress and happiness and decency another interesting work

31:57 for more people than any other philosophy of government history. And to me, that’s powerful because each of these documents has talked about the potential that is had in following these principles. But that potential requires action on our own behalf and us doing things within our own societies to make it so. All this governing system does is provide the opportunity to leverage the beauty

32:21 in nature of what it means to be a human being. But that requires something of us. And I think that’s always important to keep in mind, too. But I think his summing it up that way is really powerful and points also to that magnanimity Tony, which is a great word and will be my SAT word for the day.

32:41 But it points to that, right, because it requires us to recognize something about human beings and about our own inherent equality for that thing to exist. And then if you do recognize that, that requires certain actions. And I think those actions are things that the United States has constantly strive to get better at, sometimes rapidly. Sometimes it has not done that well.

33:02 But to me, putting that stake in the ground and being guided by those principles really does provide that faith, that hope, and that opportunity for them to improve themselves in their lot. That’s powerful. Definitely. Yeah. We were able to, as you referenced, Tony, rebuild both Japan and Germany after defeating them.

33:26 And that’s something really unheard of in the history of the world, is destroying a country. But then rebuilding it immediately. And we see what Japan and Germany are now. They’re both economic powerhouses and they enjoy liberty to a large extent.

33:47 And that’s in part thanks to what the United States helped them after the war. And so with that, it brings us to our conclusion. So what do you think? We all share our documents, our overlooked documents, the ones that we wish we had got to this year.

34:08 What do you guys think? Any final thoughts? My only final thought is that the whole purpose of this discussion is to show the importance of primary sources in the study of history and civics and government and to deliberate together and to discuss even when you don’t agree perfectly, or maybe you do.

34:31 The whole point is to have a civil conversation, read it in these primary sources, and then see where the conversation leads you. What stood out to me is how we can see the whole process of achieving greater liberty and self government has played out here. So we start off with the Revolutionary War and then attempt to achieve self

34:56 government just on a basic level as a country. As we start to form that, then we see Lincoln here really talking about slavery. And as we know, over the next couple of decades, he’s going to really push hard to end that great injustice. And then with World War II,

35:16 we see an attempt to both expand that to more of the world stage, trying to help other countries reach self government. But then also, at least on the domestic front, the ideals that we fought for in World War II are also going to transition, especially in the push and

35:43 segregation, as many people point out. Kind of the hypocrisy, or maybe not hypocrisy, but the ideals don’t necessarily work out when we say we’re fighting for liberty for other people, but then we’re denying it to a large segment of our population and that’s really going to help push

36:08 for greater liberty for African Americans here in our country. Yeah, I think that ties up well with Tony’s comment about the importance of studying primary sources, because I think these primary sources give us the opportunity to see things. We see a moment in time, we see a day when something was written and published, and you can see the ideals

36:28 towards which things are being written about. These are conscious choices that all of these authors are making and the words that they’re putting into these addresses and the way that they’re framing things. And we know that history is messier than that. Much more complex, much more nuanced. There’s highs and lows, there’s positives and negatives. And I think keeping both of those things

36:49 in context with one another is really important because that’s what begins to weave together this fabric that we can look at to start to pull out sort of big lessons and things we can learn and things we can follow. And I think being able to do that through primary sources is really helpful because it gives us a place to debate and discuss it against a text and not

37:11 trying to debate the interpretations of one event or another event, or what people are thinking, what people are doing. You’ve got the words, you can debate them, you can argue over them, and that’s healthy and that’s positive, but they’re still there at the end of the day and that’s great. So with that, we’ll conclude josh, Tony, thank you guys both for joining me. We’ll be continuing to do these primary source close.

37:32 We’ve got another one coming up in just a couple of weeks and we’ll look forward to that. But please, if you haven’t yet, like, if you like this video, please like the video. If you haven’t subscribed to our channel, please do. We release new videos every week on all kinds of different topics, whether the Primary Source Close Reads like this, or conversations with scholars that Tony hosts, or a colleague, Mary, who looks at different image

37:55 primary sources, which is also really excellent and pedagogical stuff too, with our teacher time program and all kinds of stuff, lots going on the Bill of Rights Institute. We really hope that you’ll join us and we’ll see you next time. Thank you so much.