Issue 41 4

SURVIVAL ALERT

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ON REVOLUTIONARY MAJORITIES

by Louis Beam

If citizens of this country ever again enjoy the blessings of liberty and true freedom, it will not be the result of a majority of its citizens having risen up in righteous indignation at governmental abuse of themselves and their culture. If a restoration of the Constitution of our forebearers occurs - with all that this implies - it will probably not be because a plurality of citizens fought for it, supported it, or cared one way or another. If lawful government is reestablished, it will come about because a Revolutionary Majority makes it happen.

Within the American historical experience a Revolutionary Majority may be defined as any number of citizens sufficient to initiate general hostilities against a destructive government.

The American Revolution of 1776 defines the term, sets the precedent, and provides the example for patriots of today.

Throughout most of the Revolutionary War, those patriots who were seeking to overthrow the government lacked support of over two thirds of their fellow citizens. 1 John Adams, one of the "radicals" in favor of the revolution and who was later to become the second President of the United states, stated that, depending on how the war was going, those fighting for freedom had opposition from a third to two thirds of the people. Others, like Pennsylvania delegate to the Continental Congress Joseph Galloway, were sure that four fifths of the people "were, or wanted to be, loyal to the king."2 (Galloway eventually sided with the Loyalists, as those who supported the king's government were called.) Colonel London Carter, a member of the Virginia aristocracy and a strong patriot, stated in his diary in March of 1776 (but a bare three months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence) that an observer of events in the Northern Colonies was sure "nine tenths of the people are violently against it (independence)."3

"Friends of Government"

The exact number of "the friends of government," as the patriots despairingly referred to those who opposed the revolution, cannot be stated with accuracy. As John Adams indicated, the number was in a constant state of flux, depending on political events and who was winning in the armed conflict. One thing is certain, however, the American Revolution was anything but a broad-based, popular uprising of a disaffected people. Rather, it was a very unpopular rebellion of a politically radical minority who, because they possessed a clear understanding of the rights of man coupled with a deep concern for the state of relative personal freedom, were able to perceive the shackles of tyranny prior to their being presented for fastening. This discernment of tyranny at a distance not only set them apart from their fellow man but constrained them to rebel.

Liars, Murderers, And Dregs

The radical, political leaders of the revolution, such as John Adams, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, John Hancock, and Joseph Warren, to name but a few of the more well known, had to conduct                     continued next page---