Reformedville

E Pluribus Unum reminds me of scriptural proof texting at it’s worst, ignoring all consideration of context and original intent and manipulating it to meet ones own agenda.

To understand the true meaning of  E Pluribus Unum understand the genesis of the phrase. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson proposed the phrase as a national motto of unity, as the thirteen colonies were uniting in common cause of independence and forming a new nation.

 

Next, to further understand the meaning of this one needs to look at the sketch of the original seal. The mottos purpose is to express the imagery of the seal itself.  Center to the seal is the shield itself.  The center of the shield has six symbols; the rose (England), thistle (Scotland), harp (Ireland), fleur-de-lis (France), lion (Holland), and an imperial two-headed eagle (Germany) for the countries from which these uniting states were peopled. The exterior border is then formed in a circle of the thirteen shields with a letter on each representing the thirteen independent states in unity. Although their original design was not approved, the phrase E Pluribus Unum was incorporated into the Great Seal of the United States.

Today,  revisionist historians and apologists use to phrase E Pluribus Unum to denote that America was meant to be this great melting pot , the most diverse of all nations. In fact there was very little “diversity” among our founding fathers with the major migrations coming from the British Isles, France, Germany and Holland , with the notable exception of the forced migration of slavery.

This uniformity of heritage was a major factor in the foundational success of what is now the world’s longest surviving republican form of a democratic society. While I am a adamant anti-federalist, I can not allow those views alter my understanding of this unions formation. The Federalist Papers , a comprehensive set of apologetic for the Constitution, consisted of 85 essays.

John Jay in the second essay,  Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence , specifically cites:

“With equal pleasure I have as often taken notice that Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people–a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs, and who, by their joint counsels, arms, and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody war, have nobly established general liberty and independence.

This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of Providence, that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren, united to each other by the strongest ties, should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous, and alien sovereignties. “

From 1675 to 1950, the vast majority of U.S. immigrants were English speaking and enjoyed similar heritage and customs, with the exception of some seven million Germans, Italians and Scandinavians who immigrated to the U.S. prior to 1930. Conservative estimates are that every day, about 3,200 illegal aliens (more than 96,000 of them each month) cross from Mexico into the U.S.

 

There’s an old saying in Washington that, in dealing with any tough issue, half the politicians hope that citizens don’t understand it while the other half fear that people actually do. … Be feared.

Filed under: culture, Ethnicity, Immigration, Government, Uncategorized