“THE FORGOTTEN FOUNDER”
July 4th, 2001
Today we
celebrate American Independence from Great Britain’s monarchy, and we remember
with honor our Founding Fathers who gave us our liberty and those since who have
fought to preserve it. Today I
would like to briefly share with you the story of “the forgotten
founder.”
As dawn broke on the morning of December 7th, the sky was
overcast and the air was cold and damp.
The London fog seemed thicker than usual, which added to the
gloominess. The year was 1683. In the Tower of London, locked in
prison, sat a solitary figure – sentenced to die by execution that day. His
crime? – treason against the king.
With the pen and ink and paper provided as his last request, he was
writing in the dim light of his cell.
Who was this man, what was his fate -- and how is he connected to
America’s Independence Day?
When Thomas Jefferson was asked to name the philosophical sources for the
principles of the Declaration of Independence, he named the writings of our
prisoner as one of his primary guides. On another occasion, in the year before
his passing, Jefferson stated that his writings were one of two works that
contained the “general principles of liberty and rights of man.” And he also
said that his writings were “probably the best elementary book of the principles
of government, as founded in natural right which has ever been published in any
language.”
Fairly called the “History of Liberty,” -- and covering the history of
governments beginning with the Old Testament through Greek, Roman and English
times -- this man’s writings stand for the propositions that: (1) Liberty is of
Divine Origin, (2) Liberty is Secured by Representative Government, and that (3)
Liberty is dependent upon Virtue.
During the revolutionary war period, our prisoner was a patriot’s
hero. In addition to Jefferson, his
name and works were cited by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison and
others, as authority for both the revolution itself and as a guide to the
formation of our republic. He was considered as a martyr of liberty. Yet, today his writings are virtually
unknown and unread, and his name is no longer spoken in the halls
of Congress, or in our colleges or schools.
Born in 1622, our prisoner was the second son of the Earl of Leicester.
He was raised at the family's estate in Kent. His father, Robert, was a diplomat
who owned a vast library, which included classics of religion, philosophy, and
history. As an adolescent, he traveled with his father to Denmark, France, and
Rome.
During his
life:
•
He served as a Colonel in
the English Army and fought gallantly in the Battle of Marston Moor, in which he
was wounded severely.
•
He served many years in
Parliament.
•
He served as an Ambassador
for England to negotiate peace in the war between Denmark and Sweden.
•
He was exiled twice. The
king's assassins made two attempts on his life.
•
He worked with William Penn
for religious freedom in both England and Pennsylvania.
In 1681, King Charles II dismissed Parliament. Fearful of a "popish
plot," the Whigs believed that Charles, with the encouragement of his Catholic
brother James, was attempting to re-establish an absolute monarchy. Unable to
check the crown by lawful means, some Whigs considered assassination. As a
prominent Whig, our prisoner was arrested on June 26, 1683, and accused of
treason for his alleged part in what was known as the "Rye House Plot." The
prosecution searched his home and found his writings, which were used as a
“witness” against him in his trial.
After a lengthy trial and the failure of his appeals, he was found guilty
and condemned to death by the brutal Lord Chief Justice.
His alleged part in the assassination plot was never proven. Was he guilty of treason? – only in the same sense that the 56 men
who signed the Declaration of Independence were also guilty of treason against
the King of England.
One who attended his execution reported:
When he came to the
scaffold, instead of a speech, he told them only that he had made his peace with
God, that he came not thither to talk, but to die; [he] put a paper into the
sheriff’s hand, and another into a friend’s, said one short prayer as short as a
grace, laid down his neck, and bid the executioner do his
office.
Algernon Sidney was beheaded on December 7, 1683.
What did Sidney write on the paper that he handed to his friend? A few of his last lines are as
follows:
"Being ready to die under an accusation of many crimes, I thought it fit
to leave this as a testimony unto the world, that, as I had from my youth
endeavored to uphold the common rights of mankind, the laws of this land, and …
true … religion, against corrupt principles [and] arbitrary power … I do now
willingly lay down my life for the same; and having a sure witness within me,
that God doth absolve, and uphold me, in the utmost extremities, am very little
solicitous, though man doth condemn me...." (From Algernon Sidney's Apology,
Written on the Day of His Execution, December 7, 1683.)
May we remember Algernon Sidney – a forgotten father of our nation’s
liberty -- and may we come to understand that which our Founding Fathers
understood to bring about this day of celebration.
By:
J. David Gowdy
President
Institute
for American Liberty