Greetings Earthlings

Greetings Earthings.

You know, so far, I have been pretty ambiguous about what actually happens at the Congressional Academy, so I've decided to actually give you a good representation of what is actually going on here. I'm giving you the abridged tour of what Congressional Academy is offering as far as actual learning is concerned. Here's a summary of what I got from the AMAZING readings today!

Readings:
The Declaration of Independence (1st Sentence) (1776)
Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Sections 4-8, 54, and 123.24 (1690)
Resolves of Boston (1772)
Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted (1775)

Class Meeting #2
Common Session 2
a. “What makes America one people?” – not blood, religion, but ideals and shared common principles.
i. Other countries have trouble dealing with the idea of many different people but one body, and have immigration trouble because all of their citizens are so because of blood.
b. Self-Evidence – evidence that is given in the proposition, e.g. Pythagorean Theorem
i. Self-evidence is only so once the person is educated. Jefferson asserted that everyone must be first enlightened to it, and then continually educated to it, lest it be forgotten.
Seminar #2
b. 2nd Treatise of Civil Government, Locke
i. State of Nature – a primal state of lack of all government, which entitles perfect, theoretical freedom. In this state, everyone is a king to another. This realm is guided by Natural Laws.
c. A Farmer Refuted, Hamilton
i. Natural laws:
1. Universal, instantly understood, existent everywhere, unalienable, immutable, and eternal.
2. Dictated by the God or Maker and superior to human laws.
3. You can give up these natural laws in practice for the sake of practicality, but you still have it built in.
b. Reason is an impressive faculty, but some laws (like divine laws) cannot be understood through human reason. It must be taught.
i. As species, our capacity for “smarts” is the same, but the level or content of education changes.
c. Aristocratic Theory (Three levels of being):
i. Gods – pure reason and super-dimentional existence.
ii. Beasts – purely irrational and instinctual.
iii. Humans – mediation between, both God faculties and Beast faculties.
d. What Natural Law Stipulates
i. Equality – all have same natural rights and natural obligations.
1. In everything besides natural rights and obligations, we can be different in any aspect, and there’s nothing unjust about that.
ii. Natural Rights (among those, there might be more)
1. Life
2. Liberty
3. Estate
4. Pursuit of Happiness
5. Property
iii. Property
1. Property encompasses everything that you give value to, have a right to, and does not infringe on someone else’s property.
2. The most important rights are not estate, so the class divide dissolves and equality surface. It’s not equal ownership, but equal opportunity to be potential owners.

Today we actually visited the National Archives and apparently that is where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution is. However, there was a time when cameras were actually allowed. Apparently, sometime in February of this year, some guy was told that his camera would be taken away because had the flash on. Turns out, this guy flipped out and assaulted the cop. SO no, no photography AT ALL!!! Anyways, it was absolutely amazing, lovely documents, and I got a poster of the Declaration of Independence, and a poster of Rosie the Riveter, both of which I will promptly hang once I get home.

So yeah doods! I can't wait till the next string of notes.
Congressional Academy Log #4: 6/28/10, Greetings Earthlings

Peace,
Chris Carl