Monday names your right. Wednesday shows the men living the hard work for your right. Friday takes you to a day the papers were sent out to the public.
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Monday ~ The law of nature
First Principles · 19 October 2026
Cicero said true law is right reason in agreement with nature, one eternal and
unchangeable law valid for all nations and all times. Locke wrote that the state of nature
has a law of nature to govern it: being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm
another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions. Sidney said the liberty of a people is
the gift of God and nature. The Virginia Declaration and the Declaration of
Independence put the same foundation on paper. The fence was already there before
any government was hired.
Read it here: First Principles — The law of nature
Wednesday ~ Restraint at Yorktown
They Lived It · 21 October 2026
On 19 October 1781 the British army marched out at Yorktown, colors cased, and
grounded their arms. Washington held the combined force and the highest respect of
the men under him. He did not seize the power. He reported the result to Congress,
asked for their approbation of the terms, and began the arrangements to return the
force to the ordinary charge. The power he held was the power the people already
possessed under the law of nature, handed over for a time, and still limited by the same
law. That is power that knows how to stop.
Read it here: They Lived It — Restraint at Yorktown
Friday ~ LAUS DEO: the news arrives
This Day · 23 October 2026
By the 24th of October the Freeman’s Journal in Philadelphia printed the first
announcement: Cornwallis and above 5000 British troops had surrendered. Then, in
larger type, LAUS DEO. The Pennsylvania Packet and Evening Post carried
Washington’s letter and the terms. Households that never saw the field read that the
British army had surrendered and that Washington had sent the word to Congress
assembled under the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. They did not read
that a new sovereign had been declared. The government that received the news was
the one already in place.
Read it here: This Day — LAUS DEO: the news arrives
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