Welcome to the Institute on the Constitution ! As one of the intructors of this course of
instruction, I want to commend you for your interest in Constitutional Government
and for your love and respect for America.
all the Inhabitants thereof." - Lev. 25:10
- Jake McMillian MacAulay, Instructor of Institute on the Constitution
"Anyone who desires to be ignorant and free, desires what never was and never will be."
- Thomas Jefferson
The next 12-week course begins on Thursday, August 22nd, 2013. Classes start promptly at 7:00 PM and will be held every Thursday evening (except for Holidays) at the same time for the 12-week duration.
Classes are located at Old Paths Church, 125 Oak Avenue Suite 200, Annandale, MN 55302. The cost which includes your course notebook and graduation certificate, is $150.00 for one person; $30.00 for each additional family member. The instructor is Jake McMillian MacAulay, of the Sons of Liberty radio broadcast.
The next graduation will be on Thursday, November 7th at 7pm. We are excited to have guest speaker and founder of The Institute on the Constitution, Michael Anthony Peroutka!
Jacob MacAulay is an ordained minister and the Chief Operations Officer of the ministry, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota with a staff of 19 people.
Jacob co-hosts the live radio show, The Sons of Liberty, with host Bradlee Dean, and teaches weekly courses on the United States Constitution and our Judeo-Christian heritage as a nation.
As a graduate of The Institute on the Constitution, Jake now serves as an instructor of the Constitution course that has already graduated numerous Americans who want to be empowered with the knowledge it takes to be an effective and active citizen in this day and age.
He currently lives in Annandale, Minnesota with his wife and 4 children.
The Source of Free Government’s Success Is Not a Mystery
So what is the fundamental element that once lit and sustained the twin fires of freedom and liberty in America? Two law professors, Donald S. Lutz and Charles S. Hyneman, set out on a task to review and study an estimated 15,000 items in a quest to discover the secret. They closely read 2,200 books, pamphlets, newspaper articles, and monographs. All material contained explicit political content printed from 1760 to 1805 (the era of time in which the United States Government was formed). They reduced their research to 916 items, which was about 1/3 of all political writings longer than 2,000 words.
From these items, Lutz and Hyneman identified 3,154 references to other sources.
Their findings of the sources most often cited were as follows:
The most cited source was The Bible with 34% of all citations.
• Top book of the Bible quoted was Deuteronomy (because of its heavy emphasis on biblical law)
• Average Colonists heard several thousand sermons in his lifetime.
• Education utilized Bible- New England Primer
The second most-cited source was Charles Louis Joseph de Secondat, the Baron Montesquieu of France with 8.3% of all citations. Montesquieu wrote The Spirit of the Laws were he premised:
o God is the Author of all Laws
o Because man is sinful, Civil Government is Necessary
o Humans in Gov. are sinful
o Therefore Separate Powers of Government into 3 branches
The third most-cited source was William Blackstone with 7.9% of all citations. Blackstone’s work, Commentaries on the Laws of England (English Common Law) premised:
• Common Law is rooted in the 10 Commandments
• There are 3 Categories of Law
o Revealed Law: Holy Scripture
o Laws of Nature: Revealed by God to human Reason and Conscience
o Municipal Law: “No human Law shall contradict”
• Judicial Restraint: judges don’t make law they apply it.
Montesquieu and Blackstone were quoted most during the 1780’s and 1790’s when attention was focused on practical problems of forming a government that would secure the rights of its citizens.
The fourth most cited source was John Locke with 2.9% of all citations. His most popular work being the 1st and 2nd Treatise on Civil Government in which he premised:
o Government is established by covenant or contract of people. The King is man and leaders are comprised of Men.
o God ordained Law of Nature – all human law must be subject to.
o Law of nature. Our God given Natural Rights are:
i. Life
ii. Liberty
iii. Property
Locke citations led in the 1760’s and 1770’s as the main concern was Independence and rights of Man.
The most cited human thinkers were not deists and philosophers, but conservative legal and political thinkers who were friends of and in most cases followers of the Christian religion.
One’s conclusion behind the greatness of our political institutions is the willingness of our founders to construct the foundation with materials inspired by the God of Heaven that ordained Government. Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality and indispensable supports. – George Washington.
Posted by Normal Admin on Mon, 27 Jun 2011
