Tampa Chapter
Sons of the American Revolution
December 2021
Contents
Meeting
announcements
Dues
are Due
Revolution
History note
Program
Schedule
Wreaths Across
America
Color Guard Events
& Opportunities
Misc.
reminders and information
Meeting Announcements
December
Tampa Chapter S.A.R. will participate in the Wreaths
Across America for our December meeting as has been our tradition. This will take place at the
American Legion Cemetery at 3810 Kennedy Blvd this Saturday, December 18. The
formal ceremony starts at 12:00 Noon; you should be there by 11:30. While
the SAR Color Guard will play an active role in the ceremony, I encourage all
members to attend and bring families. There will be many community groups
present and this event is open to the public.
You will have an opportunity to lay a wreath at the headstone of one of
the 730 veterans’ gravesites at this cemetery.
November
Our last meeting was the Mission BBQ on Waters
Avenue. This was our annual Law
Enforcement Recognition Luncheon.
President Bryant presented the SAR Law Enforcement Commendation Medal
and Certificate to Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Master Deputy Keron Lucius, Florida Highway Patrol Sergeant Travis
Donakowski, the Tampa SAR’s own Tampa Police Department Master Patrol Officer
Jason Krajynak. All are pictured below
with Chapter President David Bryant.
January
Our January meeting will be on January 15 and will
be our Annual Officer Installation Meeting.
We will meet at the Bahama Breeze Island Grille at 3045 N Rocky Point
Drive East. It starts at 12:00 as
usual. Meal cost is $30 each and must be
paid in advance to reserve your places.
Mail your check or money order to
Paul Ergler,
Treasurer
503
Surrey Lane
Lutz,
Florida 33549
Dues are Due
If you have not paid your dues, now is the time.
Please mail your check for $80 to our Treasurer, at the above address. Paul says he can take
PayPal, too, but you will need to contact him for that one at
paulergler@hotmail.com.
American Revolution Note
When I decided to do one or two columns on Locke, I wanted to get Locke out of the ivory tower and bring Lilbourn, Trenchard and Gordon into the picture as the source and conduit for getting Locke into the consciousness of colonial Americans. Once I started, I realized that would involve a longer, more detailed explanation than I had originally planned.
To wrap up and complete the influence (or lack thereof) of Locke will require us this month to examine the conflict between Locke’s “natural rights” theory as put forth by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration, and the “traditional rights of Englishmen” argument favored by the moderates in the Continental Congress. Finally, next month we will explore how these two approaches have affected the teaching of the revolutionary period (1763-1776) in high schools and colleges.
Colonial responses to England during the period following the Stamp Act focused on the rights of Englishmen — the right to representative government (no taxation without representation); respect of private property (writs of assistance); trial by jury (as opposed to military tribunals), and so on. The more radical colonists began to put these under the umbrella of natural rights while the moderates continued to focus on the more practical view of established rights being violated.
As I wrote in my Dickinson article (Oct/Nov 2016 newsletters), when the Continental Congress decided to form a committee to put on paper the reasons for the separation, a decision had to be made between the two. John Dickinson did not get put on the committee due to his more moderate view focusing on traditional rights. Dickinson’s argument can be found in Letters from a Farmer, a series of essays published in newspapers 1762-1769, using the pseudonym A Farmer.
While Dickinson did not get assigned to the committee, it did include Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. On the issue of natural law/rights vs. traditional rights, Adams, though leader of the radical faction demanding independence, was closer to Dickinson. However, once Adams decided not to write it – a decision he, in later years, both regretted and rationalized – the task fell to Jefferson.
Jefferson absorbed the natural rights theory from his own reading and the teachers at William and Mary who had been educated in Edinburgh and brought natural rights theory to their classrooms. After putting the theory in the second paragraph of the Declaration, Jefferson went on to list the various ways the English had violated the rights of Americans.
The list of abuses and charges against the King can be viewed in either way. On one hand the list points out the ways England had taken away life, liberty, or property, which are infringements of natural rights theory. At the same time the list is mostly comprised of violations of the traditional rights of Englishmen.
The difference is the second paragraph of the Declaration. It begins:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of
Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
Had Dickinson or Adams written it, their argument in the second paragraph would have focused on the history of English rights before getting to the list. Jefferson put his list under the umbrella of natural rights. And that is why Locke has been in the forefront of discussions of how we justified the separation.
Program Schedule
Dates for the winter and spring
are below. Feel free to pass along any program/speaker suggestions to either
Pres. David Brant, Pres. Elect Charles Krug or Secretary Bob Yarnell.
Dec. 18 Wreaths Across America
Jan. 15 Officer installation
Feb 19 Local Museum speaker (tent)
March 19 TBD
April 16 JROTC recognition
May 21 TBD
Color Guard Events and
Opportunities
Your Tampa Color Guard marched in
the Safety Harbor Christmas Parade on December 4 with the local Military
Vehicle Preservation Association. Your
chapter was represented by Robbie Robinson, Matthew Balencie (applicant) and
Dick Young. This is the same group your
Color Guard marched with in the Independence Day Parade. The picture below is
the best we could get.
Future Color Guard Opportunities
December 18 Wreaths Across America Tampa
February 16 DAR Chapter Luncheon Sun
City Center
March 5 Last Naval Battle Commemoration Merritt Island
March 22 Battle of Thomas Creek Jacksonville
We can never have enough Color
Guardsmen. If any of you have any
interest in joining the Color Guard, please contact Dick Young, Chapter
Commander or any of the members of the Tampa Chapter Color Guard. If you do not want to start with the full
Continental Line uniform, we can show you how to get started with a militia
“uniform” with much less cost.
Other important dates
Jan 17 Martin Luther King Day
Feb 12 Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday
Feb 21 Presidents Day Holiday
Feb 22 George Washington’s Birthday
Mar 4-5 National Society Winter Leadership Conference –
Louisville
Apr 13 Thomas Jefferson’s Birthday
May 30 Memorial Day
SAR and Events Update
May 6-7 Florida Society Spring Board
of Management Meeting – Kissimmee.
July 9-13 National SAR Congress will be in
Savanah, Georgia.
July 2023 National SAR Congress will be held in Orlando. Plans are being made and volunteers will be
needed. Information on volunteer
opportunities will be made available as plans are made.
Miscellaneous Reminders
The face book page for the Tampa Sons of the American Revolution is
Tampa Sar. The password to add anything is American1776.
Please feel free to upload pictures or comments. Invite all your friends to look.
Chapter Website—remember you can find
information about the chapter and programs on the chapter
website. http://www.tampasar.org/
One of the duties of the Chapter
Chaplain is to send cards to our members that are sick. Another is to send a
sympathy card to the family of a member who has passed away. If you know of
anyone that should be the recipient of these cards, please mention it to
Chaplain Sessums or one of the other officers at our next meeting.