Saturday, August 23, 2025

If the Smithsonian Institution was more interested in promoting a patriotic version of U.S. history, would it put the Abolitionist Founding Fathers on display?

An interesting thing is happening right now and its really a fantastic opportunity to highlight just how useful our current roster of audio books is in the context of how home schoolers and others can remind our fellow Americans that yes, our Founding Fathers did get it right - and that includes on the topic of slavery, and where can you find the truth? How can you give others the truth? How can we all join together to undermine America's historical class who does not want anybody to know the real American history?

Slavery was indeed bad. Let's get that out of the way, and those four words stand on their own merit. Slavery was indeed bad. Now, we have to ask the opposite. Was early American abolitionism an universal good? I think it was. Was early American abolitionism a thing we can be proud of? Is early American abolitionism a thing we should be proud of? If not, then this discussion is not for you. But if you are proud of America and you are proud of the early American abolitionists, then I'm certain you are going to learn something here. So get ready.

The Smithsonian is something that all of us used to think was something that was on our side. We used to think the Smithsonian had America's best interests at heart. We have come to realize that this cannot be true, not as long as the Smithsonian has a one-sided vision for telling the U.S.'s story. If the narrative is really going to be one sided, then the Smithsonian have cast themselves as propagandists.

So who were America's Abolitionist Founding Fathers? Well, they were Founding Fathers to be sure. Signers of the Declaration, signers of the Continental Association, members of the Continental Congress, and signers of other documents less well known and also the Articles of Confederation and Constitution itself. This is also by no means meant to be an exhaustive and all encompassing list covering every aspect and nook and cranny, I did not prepare for that in advance.

The Founding Father who everybody will recognize, who was also an ardent abolitionist, was Benjamin Franklin. Franklin is often times most remembered for Poor Richard's Almanack, also for the key and the kite in the lightning storm. But Franklin was also a great man in another way - his ardent belief in the necessity of abolitionism.

A quick point of contention before I continue. For some odd reasons, many conservatives are decidedly not proud of this. I must say, I cannot fathom why. You aren't ceding any ground to progressives by promoting the Abolitionist Founding Fathers. In fact, the opposite is actually true. The progressives have spent generations engaging in a mass coverup of U.S. history and a sweeping under the rug of all things positive about U.S. history.

The Abolitionist Founding Fathers? Yes, of course I found it under the rug. I pulled it out from under the rug and now I want people to see how beautiful it is. Look at how it shines! Look at how it sparkles! I just find it odd that some claimaints of America First suddenly forget to be First with this specific topic. You really need to question your motives.

Now, was Benjamin Franklin the only abolitionist among the people who Founded the United States? Of course not! But surely I must be now be about to be forced into Founders that history forgot because they did one thing and nobody ever heard from them again.

Nope. I was thinking John Jay, who not only was an abolitionist but taught his son William to be an abolitionist. John Jay was one of the authors of the Federalist Papers. That's right, one of the authors of The Federalist was an opponent of the institution of slavery. Bet your history teachers didn't teach you that one did they! Mine didn't. And why would teachers teach this, they're engaged in a mass coverup about the topic. Jay was a towering figure at America's founding. Besides helping with the Federalist Papers and being a governor of the important state of New York, he negotiated the end of the Revolutionary War with the 1783 Treaty of Paris and followed it up later with the Jay Treaty in 84, bringing a decade of peace to the U.S. between Britain.

That's now two, and these are big names - two Abolitionist Founding Fathers.

Now ask yourself this question. How come the Smithsonian Institute is incapable of figuring this out? How come the Smithsonian is incapable of discovering this? Well, they aren't incapable. Their ATTITUDE prevents them. Their STINKING ATTITUDE, the Smithsonian's ARROGANCE, that is what keeps the Smithsonian from teaching people of how integral abolitionism of slavery was at the very beginning of the U.S.'s journey. And yes, it was integral. It wasn't nearly the top priority, but anybody who says slavery abolitionism was non-existent is flat out lying when we can all see the documentation, see the dates of when those documents were written, and see that it is true. And in good enough time, it'll be audio as well. I'm just sorry I can't work faster.

Now, I have yet to work on the creation of an audio book for John Jay, but I will some day, and about Franklin there are several audio books at LibriVox to help make educating about his life easier.

Let's move on. Let's talk for a moment about Stephen Hopkins, who today is entirely forgotten but in the 1770s was very well known as a pamphlet writer until he (like many others) were eclipsed by the explosive popularity of Paine's Common Sense. We often hear about how so many of the Founders were pamphleteers, and even teachers will teach this without specifics. Ask yourself, why is it we never hear specifically about what exactly were those pamphlets? Was was in those pamplhets? Who were the other pampleteers? Was there 3 others, was there 3,000? Who? Where? Well, Hopkins was one of them and his pamphlet, "The Rights of Colonies Examined", was resoundingly popular. Hopkins went on to eventually sign the Declaration of Independence and was Governor of Rhode Island.

The real key to Hopkins importance though (in today's context) is his opposition to slavery. He authored one of the first of its kind laws in the colonies (at this point the U.S. did not exist) in the year 1774, and the law completely did away with the slave trade. And, and, the law was passed through the legislature. So all of Rhode Island was onboard with the concept. But in the colonies, Governors were crown creatures instead of being elected. They were puppets. Their real job was to thwart colonial freedom and enforce kingly desires. And this crown's puppet refused to enforce the law. So even in spite of being a law duly passed by the people's representatives to abolish the slave trade, the crown still killed it. Rhode Island kept going in slave trading into the 1800s, entirely in line with the crown's wishes. Not the patriots' wishes, the crown. The crown owns this, without any distinction at all.

Now, this episode is one instance of where I come in as you just saw and I say the most incindiary thing (and fact-based thing BTW) that the British Empire forced slavery on the U.S. And its true. The British Empire forced slavery on the U.S. Hopkins' work is one example of this. Those 13 colonies saw this again and again, laws either being ignored or outright vetoed by the King's pen, so none dared go any further. Why bother passing dead laws? That is so clearly a waste of time. But had the colonies had the freedom and independence to pass their own laws without crown creatures being jerks and without the threat of a kingly veto, it is a very real assertion to say that at least one or a few of the colonies would have become free-soil by the time Independence Day appeared. The reverse is also true. Nobody can state that the U.S. chose slavery. Even those most critical of the Founding Fathers only dare go so far as to say that slavery was a "tolerated" institution by the Founders. And in using this word "tolerate", they do in fact expose their deception. The emperor once again has no clothes.

Benjamin Rush, another signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a very busy man. On top of being a physician he having his finger on the pulse of patriotic endeavors, and was also an abolitionist. In his work as an abolitionist, Benjamin Rush wrote a pamphlet titled "An Address to the Inhabitants of British America". But this pamphlet was not just a free-standing work, it was written with a specific agenda. Benjamin Rush worked together with prominent abolitionist Anthony Benezet on this project. Historian Maurice Jackson pointed out that Benezet and Rush worked together using this pamphlet to put pressure on the Pennsylvania legislature to pass a law putting heavy tariffs on the importation of slaves in order to hopefully put a stop to it. (Let This Voice Be Heard, pp. 122-123)

This sort of pressure campaign between Benezet and Rush, specifically in the context of colonial slavery of black Africans, was unheard of anywhere in the world and was the first of its kind. This kind of pressure campaign using pamphlets and later images, paintings and where available photographs, would be copied by British abolitionists and even later American abolitionists during the era of the Civil War. Benjamin Rush, a Founding Father, and Anthony Benezet are the source of all of it. That's why Jackson calls Benezet the "Father of Atlantic Abolitionism", its because Britain did not invent this.

Abolitionism was wholly invented and created right here in the United States(colonies). British abolitionists copied us. We did that. We own it. And we deserve the credit for it. Now, let's cover briefly Rush's actual pamphlet. What was written in it? Among other things, Rush wrote:

The first step to be taken to put a stop to slavery in this country, is to leave off importing slaves. For this purpose let our assemblies unite in petitioning the king and parliament to dissolve the African company. It is by this incorporated band of robbers that the trade has been chiefly carried on to America. (p.21)

Rush does not mince words here. Who does Rush blame for slavery in American colonies? Britain. How can slavery in the colonies be stopped? Petition Parliament. Who created slavery in American colonies? The British Empire did that. It wasn't the United States who did that, a simple calendar proves that. It wasn't some random tribal lords in Africa who did that, they never set foot outside of Africa. And Rush also links together clearly that slavery is the slave trade, and the slave trade is slavery. The two are one in the same. Stopping one (they believed at the time) is how to stop the other. If you want to say the abolitionists got the idea incorrect looking backwards hey that's great. They got it wrong. But let's be sober, let's not get drunk off of modern propaganda that somehow the slave trade and slavery are different. They are not. The abolitionists all viewed the two as exactly the same and it was this way with the British abolitionists as well.

Now, if you so choose you can listen to an audio book of Rush's auto biography here. The lives of all of the Founding Fathers is so important for all of us to continually learn, study, and reflect on. Let's continue`.

John Dickinson, again one of the signers of the Declaration and also one of the largest slave owners in his colony/state at the time. Another wildly popular pamphleteer writing "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania", perhaps the only other pamphlet from the time(besides Common Sense) that Americans remain somewhat knowledgable about its existence. Dickinson became an abolitionist in connection with his Quakerism similar to Anthony Benezet, and would manumit every last one of his slaves along with becoming a vocal advocate for laws abolishing both slavery and the slave trade. We currently have an audio book in production about the life of Dickinson and hopefully some day soon I can happily tell everybody about the completion of that work and its contents. And, most importantly, Dickinson's very important life and the lessons we can learn from him. That is the goal. Continuing education about our wonderful Founding Fathers.

Elias Boudinot, not a signer of the Declaration but he was a President of the Continental Congress, also took up the banner of opposition to slavery, He joined the Pennsylvania Anti Slavery Society (which Franklin was one-time President of) and in addition to work in abolitionist causes he was a founder of the American Bible Society. Like so many of our Founders, the life of Elias Boudinot has been completely eradicated and for that, I do have an audio book of his Life and Times in the works but it will be complete when it is complete.

So there you have it, six prominent Founding Fathers who were both well known in their day, as well as being definitively involved with abolitionist movements during the times of the birth of the United States either right before it or shortly after its establishment.

Do you want to sabotage progressivism? Talk about America's Abolitionist Founding Fathers. They are one in the same: talking about the abolitionist Founding Fathers is sabotaging progressivism. I, definitely, make it a point to at all places and all times frustrate progressivism by runing their hard work over this last century, so I will obviously have more to say about America's Abolitionist Founding Fathers. Especially as I can get more audio books introduced about their life and works to supercharge the educational capabilities about the wondrous and fantastic Founding of the United States of America.

Now. Who couldn't possibly be proud of all this?

Note: Outside of visible abolitionism there were many Founders who were ardently anti-slavery even if they did not act on it. Additionally, there were some who did own many slaves while being against slavery as a concept and institution. Among those known to oppose slavery would be George Mason, Roger Sherman, Henry Laurens, Gouverneur Morris, both of the Adams', John and Samuel, and most controversially Thomas Jefferson among others; Jefferson acted repeatedly legislatively to actually get rid of slavery making him truly unique in any of the relating categories. And even more Founders were privately against slavery but properly put union above all objects, the two most prominent names being George Washington and Patrick Henry.

As a final thought, I leave you with two very well documented works on early abolitionism and in relation to the Founding Fathers, and the life of Anthony Benezet.(both text and audio)

Memoirs of the Life of Anthony Benezet

Anti-slavery in America from the Introduction of African Slaves to the Prohibition of the Slave Trade (1619-1808)

An Historical Research Respecting the Opinions of the Founders of the Republic, on Negroes as Slaves, as Citizens, and as Soldiers

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

New audiobook release: The autobiography of Calvin Coolidge

The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge was a great man and president, and his legacy is entirely unique. Sure, it is due in part to the timing of when he became President but the thing of it is that as President, he acted accordingly. He was the only President in U.S. history who defeated both the left-wing progressives(the Wilsonians) and the right-wing progressives.(The Bull Moosers)

Some people are placed in a position of greatness. Acting great once in that position is left solely to the man.

It is Calvin Coolidge, he is why the Progressive Era came to an end.

I hope you enjoy the audio recording of his life story from his own hand.

Sunday, May 18, 2025

New audiobook release: The autobiography of Benjamin Rush

Our Founding Fathers left us many wonderful works with which to learn more about their lives and beliefs, many of which are in the form of a multitude of letters written to other people or specific-topic-based works. Perhaps the best well-known topic-based work of the Founders is the Federalist Papers, produced by three Founders over the course of some months.

Benjamin Rush did something different though, producing a short autobiography about his own life. I do believe there are others who had autobiographies as well but I think they were exceedingly rare among the Founding generation.

I suspect very few people have read Rush's autobiography in recent times. With the more convenient method of listening to an audio book, that consumption level will increase and that is a good thing for us all. The more we know about our Founding Fathers and the more (hopefully) we attempt to be like them the better off we are as Americans.

Friday, May 9, 2025

New audiobook release: Memoirs of the Life of Anthony Benezet, by Roberts Vaux

I am so happy to announce that today Memoirs of the Life of Anthony Benezet is now available in audio. When it comes to the Abolitionist Founding Fathers, this is the guy who ties it all together.

In order to restore American history from all of the damage that progressives have done to it, making it easier for people to be reminded of or learn of the important people is essential.

Many of the prominent Founding Fathers were abolitionist. Many more opposed slavery. Who did they have correspondence with? Anthony Benezet.

Patrick Henry knew of Anthony Benezet and his work.

Anthony Benezet is credited with converting Benjamin Franklin into an abolitionist.

Anthony Benezet also worked directly with Benjamin Rush in the fight against slavery.

Benezet's works can also be found in the John Adams library.

South Carolinian Henry Laurens, during the time he penned his abolitionist pamphlet, was sending letters to Anthony Benezet.

This is the guy. He was everywhere. And he didn't just get abolitionism started in the U.S. before the U.S. was the U.S., the major abolitionists in Britain also were heavily influenced by Benezet's works. Granville Sharp, John Wesley, and Thomas Clarkson were all influenced by Benezet - later Wilberforce as well.

The only point of sadness I have at this moment is that I believe most people (in particular those who adore American history and specifically the Founding) will not bother to either read this, listen to it, or take time to seek out other books written about Benezet and discover his profound impact upon early American abolitionism. Its a gut feeling I hope I am incorrect about, but I cannot escape it.

The 1619 Project is still out there and this is the one thing, the only thing, that can stand in its way. The Abolitionist Founding Fathers is the cure to The 1619 Project.

Saturday, April 26, 2025

New audiobook release: The Phantom Public, by Walter Lippmann

Today The Phantom Public is now available, much to my surprise.

https://librivox.org/phantom-public-by-walter-lippmann/

I actually own a hard-copy of this book, one of the early printings from the 20s. I could never make time for it but when I purchased this there were no available PDF online anywhere(it was still under copyright) and I had planned to scan all the pages and read it myself from my own uploaded scans once it went public domain. So among other things, this release saves me a ton of time. It's a solo recording as well, which is wonderful.

In The Phantom Public, Lippmann takes a very sour look at the world and becomes much more rigidly in favor of rule by experts. He captures a moment when the progressives had been so defeated after the 1920 election, these people didn't even want to be called progressives anymore it was that bad! Little did he know. In less than a decade from this progressives would re-brand themselves as "liberals".

The Phantom Public is a sort of follow up to his earlier book Public Opinion, which I did the recording all by myself.

Thursday, April 24, 2025

New audiobook release: Propaganda, by Edward Bernays

Today we have a new audio book release, this time from Edward Bernays with his 1928 work "Propaganda". Download the audio here.

There is a lot to learn about progressivism in this book. Among other things (prior post on this) Bernays believed the following items which were captions on a newer reprint cover:

As civilization has become more complex, and as the need for invisible government has been increasingly demonstrated, the technical means have been invented and developed by which opinion may be regimented(Page 39)

Nowadays the successors of the rulers, those whose position or ability gives them power, can no longer do what they want without the approval of the masses, they find in propaganda a tool which is increasingly powerful in gaining that approval(Page 54)

Democracy is administered by the intelligent minority who know how to regiment and guide the masses(Page 127)


Democracy is administered by the intelligent minority. The "experts". That's the arrogance of progressivism. They can't just leave us alone. Ok, then we need to study these moonbats so we can defend ourselves against their machinations. My guiding principle since day one, this has never changed going all the way back to 2010:

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle - Sun Tzu (Art of War, Chapter 3)

Sunday, March 30, 2025

New audiobook release: Great Events in the History of North and South America by Charles A. Goodrich

Today I would like to highlight the release of a book written by Charles A. Goodrich: Great Events in the History of North and South America

https://librivox.org/great-events-in-the-history-of-north-and-south-america-by-charles-goodrich/

This book ought to be highly useful for home schoolers, it is nearly 90 sections of audio covering a much more generalized education than a deep-dive into one single person or historical event. Many of the audio sections are short in length in the 5-10 minute range, and while the book mentions both North America and South America, 75%~ of the book is North America and almost half of it is the American Revolution and the later Revolutionary War.

Goodrich was a good historian whose name I've come across before, I'm happy someone got to one of his books before I did.

I did not request nor contribute in any way to this book. I simply mention it because I know this will have a benefit and value for someone.

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

New audiobook release: Biographical Sketches of the Signers of the Declaration of American Independence

What an important release this one is. Today, Benson Lossing's "Biographical Sketches of the Signers of the Declaration of American Independence" is ready for a listen.

This book has some really important sections in it which are not biographies at all, but a 1-by-1 explanation of what each grievance in the Declaration is in reference to. That makes this audio book surely one of a kind in that regard.

As for the biographies, most as audio are inbetween 5 to 10 minutes, giving a brief overview of all of these wonderful people. Some Founding Fathers never received a major biographical work until somewhat more recently, such as George Wythe. I will be dead before those ever reach copyright expiration so I'll never be able to have brought through LibriVox. That means for many Founders, this short biography you will hear is the only you will ever hear until someone else takes the time to have those created.

Sunday, January 12, 2025

New audiobook release: John Hancock: The Picturesque Patriot

I feel like we're actually leading a sort of a revival here. There comes a time when a vision is seen, and then only later on can that vision be shown to others because it has materialized in some meaningful way.

Today I'm very happy to announce that Lorenzo Sears' biography of Founding Father John Hancock has been released for general use!

John Hancock: The Picturesque Patriot

Now be honest, how many of you actually know much at all about John Hancock, other than that he's that one guy who lived somewhere in a northern state and his autograph on the Declaration was the easiest one to see because its the largest? Seriously, very few people know much at all about John Hancock. But that can change, and for many it surely will change. That includes me, I'll raise my hand right now. I don't know much about Hancock myself.

We have a huge problem in this country, and we need to face it face on. Americans do not know their own Founding Fathers.

This is half because schools stopped teaching it generations ago. The other half is because of inconvenience - Why would anybody pick up a book written over a century ago to learn about John Hancock when they can read a compelling novel? Maybe Jurassic Park? Why would anybody buy a new book written about John Hancock (There are precious few, I'll get to this in a second) when they could go watch a football game? Or even beyond that, how many people prioritize family time most of all, or time put aside for spiritual pursuits and going to church?

There are hundreds of ways that the Founding Fathers get shoved out of our lives, even for some of the most noble of priorities. We have got to stop shoving the Founders out. It's killing us.

Convenience is king.

Most of you aren't going to take as much time as you should to read the Founders or read biographies about the Founders, so then it will be actively read to you and you only need to listen. Now the Founding Fathers can fit into your busy day, now you can learn while you are on a business flight between cities, now you can learn while you jog for an hour in the morning, or during the long commute. Maybe you listen to audio books or podcasts at night while you wind down for the day. Maybe you work solo all day in a warehouse. There are nearly endless possibilities.

A big target for me is home schoolers. The end-run-around that home schoolers commit against the school system is fantastic. But the problem is, it's expensive and its loaded with gatekeepers. Going to a discussion of one single book isn't saving one person all that much. $5, $10 maybe? But we now have more of a pile of books we can point to. So when budgets are tight and we have a good dozen or so books in audio format (which also highlights their written aspect) which can be offered, now you have something compelling that any home schooler would want at least some part of. Due to their age and sometimes rarity, many of these books are not cheap or can't be had altogether.

Now, as to shoving the Founding Fathers out. Yeah, this is happening a lot. The markets themselves are proof of this, go to the book store. There are not a constant flow of new written works about the Founding Fathers very often and why is this? On the one hand, most people who are interested only really focus on one or two Founders and the rest kind of don't exist. There are new books written about Jefferson or Washington or Franklin from time to time. But the rest of the Founders? Nah. There just isn't a big interest level. It's true. No customers means no new books, no interest means no customers. That is where we are actually at in this country, and it needs to change. And I'll tell you what, it isn't going to change because person A shoved a brand new book into person B's face for the cool new price of $39.95. That may get a dozen people, but a free audio book that makes people's lives more convenient will go quite a bit further. And since there are no customers anyways, a free open source audio book is the perfect fit.

Finally, let's not forget that this book about John Hancock is free and open source in the public domain. So, what of the gatekeepers? Let's talk about that a little bit. Have you ever attempted to buy a new book and look up the footnote, only to find that you had to go through another footnote which only meant another footnote? Historians do this "footnote maze-ing" on purpose as a way to protect their fiefdoms. If you cannot get out of their maze then you are captive and they have guarded their gate. Conversely, are you spending $10 a month for an Audible subscription for nonsense entertainment titles or are you getting solid audio books about the Founding Fathers for absolutely free? Yes, among other things, this is a jab (however small) at big tech. Specifically, Amazon. There may be some solid audio books you can get with that subscription. However, now a new and free audio alternative is being developed.

Why give money to big tech when you do not have to.

Saturday, January 11, 2025

Robert's Rules of Order (free audio book)

Recently I discovered totally by accident that Robert's Rules of Order was completed at LibriVox. I know many of you will appreciate having this alternate way of accessing this material. Here's the summary:
"Originally written in 1876 by Major Henry M. Robert of the US Army Corps of Engineers, Robert's Rules of Order is the most widely used authority in the United States today for "parliamentary law, based...upon the rules and practice of Congress" for "organizing and conducting the business of societies, conventions, and other deliberative assemblies.""

Enjoy!

https://librivox.org/roberts-rules-of-order-by-henry-m-robert/#