The Declaration of Independence is often misunderstood, which I wrote about here. One of the most important, yet overlooked, sections of the document is the list of indictments against King George III. The indictments are further evidence that the Declaration was never meant to be a revolutionary statement. From the Magna Carta to the colonial constitutions, George III was indicted for violating existing laws. Jefferson listed a total of 27 indictments against the King. Throughout February, we’re going to look at one indictment a day, why it was levied, and why it is still relevant.
Indictment #9 reads as follows:
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
Why was the indictment levied: In 1773, Great Britain passed a law stating that judges and governors would draw their salaries from the King, not the colonists. This angered the colonists, as it made the judges and governors 100% loyal to the crown, and unresponsive to the colonial districts they were supposed to represent.
In 1774, Massachusetts proceeded to impeach Chief Justice Peter Oliver (a loyalist). Oliver was outed as the only colonial Chief Justice who supported this measure, unsurprisingly with a salary increase. The impeachment proceedings went nowhere as they were nullified by Governor of Massachusetts and fellow loyalist, Thomas Hutchinson. The crown’s appointees were “dependent on his Will alone.”
Why is this important today: We touched upon similar themes of non-representative judiciaries in the previous indictment. Instead of retreading, how about focusing on the unelected “czars” that are appointed in non-representative, unconstitutional positions today? We take an awful lot of direction from individuals that exist outside of U.S. political consequences:
The directors of the CDC or the World Health Organization.
Officers of NATO or the United Nations.
And hundreds of globalist “environmental” organizations and NGO’s.
In many ways, these organizations have more influence over our laws than we do. And the “amount and payment of their salaries” is at odds with our interests. If we still valued American principals, we would lead the world by example and divorce ourselves from these extra-political bureaucracies. Independence was declared in 1776 for far less.