We have a signed agreement! | Eastern North Carolina Now

We have a signed agreement!

   Caution is the byword of all signed agreements throughout history.  In light of the recently signed agreement between the USA and North Korea, it is important to remember that we don't forget that SIGNED AGREEMENTS are the just the first important step in the process.  I have no doubt that there will be many who will dissect the wording of the agreement and offer opinions both pro and con (including this writer), but we must remember that success or failure will reside not in the wording of agreements but in the actions that follow.

   It has taken us almost 250 years to fulfill the promise of three other  SIGNED AGREEMENTS and we are not very close to recognizing the goal of the 3rd of those SIGNED AGREEMENTS. In fact we may have regressed on the priciples of the Constitution.  I am referring to the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris and the Constitution of the United States. 

   The first agreement was solved with a war fought to establish the country that was supposed to embed the ideals of a free people. That document was full of platitudes expressing the desire to throw off the shackles of an oppressive government. Naturally the oppressive government (England) was not too happy about the sentiment expressed in 1776 and as a result they tried to quell the rebellion. That ended with another SIGNED AGREEMENT.  It took another four years before we could have another SIGNED AGREEMENT that formally established the good old United States of America. It too resulted in a war.

242 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence (1776).

235 years since the signing of the Treaty of Paris. (1783)

231 years since the signing  (ratification) of the Constitution of the United States. (1787)

   In the interest of brevity (admittedly not my strong suit) I will not try to list all the SIGNED AGREEMENTS that have occurred since these three documents were put on paper and signed.

   I will just suggest that the signing of an agreement is just the start and not the end of the process and offer a few caveat quotes from the man I consider the most influential of our founding fathers and a more recent President who I think understood the difference between words and actions.

“Our new Constitution is now established, everything seems to promise it will be durable; but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes,” Benjamin Franklin

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“I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such: because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no Form of Government but what may be a Blessing to the People if well-administered; and I believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a Course of Years and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other.”   Benjamin Franklin

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“The U.S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. Your have to catch up with it yourself.” ― Benjamin Franklin

“For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected?”  Benjamin Franklin

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"Trust but verify." Ranaldus Magnus

References

https://constitutioncenter.org/learn/educational-resources/constitution-faqs

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/delegates-sign-declaration-of-independence

http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/treaty-of-paris

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/289513.Benjamin_Franklin