Miracles Of Nullification

One of the best ways we can all start restoring lost liberty is through the principle of nullification. However, resisting tyranny can be a little intimidating at first. We have put together this little video with two examples of miracles that occurred by those that decided doing what was right was more important than doing what some would consider “safe”.

The first is an account where people got together to put a would be tyrant Sheriff in his place.

The second is an the story of a man who was able to be protected against incriminating himself against an unjust law.

Learn more about nullification at the link below.

https://treeoflibertysociety.com/learn/nullify-to-protect-rights/

TRANSCRIPT

Generated using A.I.; please forgive any mistakes.

With federal gun restrictions, out of control inflation, vaccine mandates, and just so many unconstitutional acts, on the books, the average person commits three felonies every single day without even knowing it. So what can be done? Do you sue? Do you just vote harder? Got to, what do we do? What is the solution?

The US Constitution is the rule book for the federal government. Now what this means is the Constitution is what tells the federal government what they can do and how to do it. Like many legal documents, the Constitution contains what is called an interpretation clause. The part of the document that tells you how to read the rest of the document. The 10th Amendment is the Constitution's interpretation clause.

The 10th Amendment reads, quote, "The powers not delegated to the United States "by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it "to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, "or to the people," end of quote. This means that if the feds weren't given the specific authority to do something, they just can't do it. This is borne out the most clearly by the inclusion of the 18th and 21st Amendments to the Constitution.

The federal government was not given authority over alcohol, so an amendment to the Constitution, the 18th Amendment, had to be passed, giving the government a new power. That power was then taken away, again, with the 21st Amendment. If the government hasn't been given specific authority to do something, it cannot do it, at least not legitimately. Clearly the federal government, though, violates this principle, so what can be done about it?

A more in-depth overview of this principle can be found in our Learn section at thetreeoflibertysociety.com. Briefly, though, the founders advocated before independence and after the Constitution was ratified that the people utilize the principle of nullification as a check on usurping authority. Nullification is any act or set of acts which renders a law null, void, or just unenforcing. As Thomas Jefferson explained, quote, "If those who administer the general government "be permitted to transgress the limits "fixed by that compact, by a total disregard "to the special delegations of power therein contained, "an annihilation of the state governments "and the creation, upon their ruins, "of a general, consolidated government "will be the inevitable consequence."

He warned of the situation we face right now. Therefore, to enforce the Constitution, he said that, quote, "A nullification of the act "is the rightful remedy," end of quote. The founding fathers wanted the people to enforce the Constitution, not by taking the federal government to court, but by ignoring the would-be usurpation of authority. They understood that a criminal and his buddies are not gonna say that they violated your rights.

Are there consequences to standing up for the law of the land, the Constitution? Yeah, it can be scary to stand up for right against seemingly very powerful forces. However, when we are on the side of right, we can expect the blessings of heaven, and we want to share with you three short examples of miracles that followed those that chose to stand up for the right and nullify illegal actions of the government.

We hope these will give us all just a little more courage to do a little more to stand up for freedom. First, we start off with Party P Pratt's Inspired Escape from Prison.

My jailer at the public house was a Mr. Peabody. And being there during the night, he provided me breakfast the next morning. I approached Mr. Peabody over the breakfast table. "Say, Mr. Peabody, are you good at a foot race?"

Peabody answered. "No, but my big bulldog here is, and he's been trained to assist me these many fine years and can bring down a man on the run at my bidding." "Well, that may be the case, Mr. Peabody, but you know, you've compelled me to go a mile, and I've gone with you too. And you've given me a chance to preach and to sing, even if it was in court. And, oh, you've provided me lodging and a very fine breakfast, provided me very fine attention.

But now I feel that I must continue my journey. Now, if you're good at a race, you may join me in the street. Otherwise, I thank you for your attention and bid you adieu." I then proceeded to the street and continued my journey at a considerable pace. Mr. Peabody, somewhat amazed at this, could not put one foot in front of the other. Upon seeing this, I again turned to Mr. Peabody and invited him to the race.

He still stood amazed. I then renewed my exertions and increased my speed to something like that of a deer. I proceeded 200 yards down the road, leaped a fence and was headed to the woods when I finally heard Mr. Peabody shouting and hollowing after me, calling to his dog, "Go get him, Bulldog. Bring him down. Lay hold of him. Bring him down, Bulldog," pointing in my direction.

The dog was fast overtaking me and was in the very act of leaping upon me. When a thought struck me, fast as lightning, to encourage the dog onward into the forest, I wheeled on the Bulldog, one of the largest I've ever seen, and shouting and clapping my hands much as the officer, I said, "Go get him, Bulldog." The dog redoubled his speed on into the forest, encouraged on by both myself and the officer.

Now we present the story of John Taylor when he taught the principle of nullification. He said, "The Lord is greater than man. Man's laws are artificial and not always wise. God's laws are divine and always possessed of wisdom. The laws of man may be ignored or nullified, but the laws of God, never. We believe in loyalty to our country, but when they enact laws forbidding us the free exercise of a religion, we cannot submit.

God is greater than the United States, and when the government conflicts with heaven, we will be ringed near the banner of heaven against the government." The United States says, we cannot marry more than one wife. God says different. We had no hand in the business. Joseph Smith had no hand in it. Brigham Young had no hand in it.

I had no hand in it. It was all the work of God and his laws must be obeyed. If the United States says different, the saints cannot obey it. We will worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience. We want to be friendly with the United States. If the government will let us, but not one jot nor tittle of our rights, will we give up to purchase it.

When adulterers and libertines pass a law forbidding polygamy, the saints cannot obey it. The United States cannot abolish it. No nation on earth can prevent it, nor all the nations of the earth combined. I defy the United States. I will obey the will of God. These are my sentiments. And all of you who sympathize with me in this position, raise your right hand.

Now we want to talk to you about the time when a community got together to nullify the orders of the local sheriff. Joseph Smith one day said that, quote, "We started for Ottawa and arrived at Papa Gros, "32 miles where we stopped for the night." Squire Walker sent Mr. Campbell, Sheriff of Lee County to my assistance. And he came and slept by me. In the morning, certain men wished to see me, but I was not allowed to see them.

The news of my arrival had hastily circulated about the neighborhood. And very early in the morning, the largest room in the hotel was filled with citizens who were anxious to hear me preach and requested me to address them. Sheriff Reynolds entered the room and said, pointing to me, "I wish you to understand this man is my prisoner "and I want you should disperse.

"You must not gather around here in this way." On which an aged gentleman who was lame and carried a large hickory walking stick advanced towards Reynolds, bringing his hickory upon the floor and said, "You damned infernal puke. "We'll learn you to come here and interrupt gentlemen. "Sit down there." Pointing to a very low chair. "And sit still.

"Don't open your head "till General Smith gets through talking. "If you never learned manners in Missouri, "we'll teach you that gentlemen "are not to be imposed upon by a slave driver. "You cannot kidnap men here if you do in Missouri. "And if you attempt it here, "there's a committee in this grove "that will sit on your case. "And sir, it is the highest tribunal in the United States.

"As from its decision, there is no appeal." Reynolds, no doubt aware that the person addressing him was at the head of a committee who had prevented the settlers on the public domain from being imposed upon by land speculators, sat down in silence while I addressed the assembly for an hour and a half. Now we'd like to share with you the story of nullification, which became a family affair. LDS apostle John W. Taylor, who was the son of late church president John Taylor, was being summoned to testify in the Reed-Smoot US Senate hearings of 1904.

To avoid testifying, Taylor went into hiding. There was a boy, John Taylor's son, was sitting on his porch when a processor came up to him and said, "Hey kid, where's your father?" Joseph, the son, making a kite in the front porch of the big house in Farmington, looked up to see the man who had come in the gate. The search suit, the hard hat, the bullnose shoes combined with the belligerent air of the typical process server.

Then he said, "Who do you want?" "John W. Taylor, is that your father?" Joseph admitting nothing, "He's not here." Process server says, "He lives here." And as the boy said nothing, "He was here yesterday." "You must mean Uncle Moe's," Joseph said. "Uncle Moe's was here yesterday." "Well, where is he?" "I don't know." The process server crossed the porch and rang the bell.

With no answer, he hammered the door. "Nobody's home," Joseph said. "Where's your mother?" "Away." Joseph kept working at his kite. "Where?" "I don't know." "Well, when will she be back?" "I don't know." "Where are the other kids?"

"With mother." "Why are you left behind?" "To watch this place, there have been suspicious characters prowling around lately," Joseph said blandly. The process server grunted, stamped off the porch and out the front gate. He climbed into a rig, cut the horse with the whip, and the buggy clattered down the street. The process server saw a bent old woman, hesitating uncertainly at the edge of the road, afraid to cross.

The process server didn't pull up. His mind was on more important things than chivalry. It was his job to serve a subpoena on John W. Taylor, requiring his presence before the Committee on Privileges and elections of the United States Senate in the matter of the protest against the right of the Honorable Reed Smoot, a senator from the state of Utah, to hold his seat. The process server knew that Taylor had made a secret trip to Utah from Canada, that he had been seen in Farmington yesterday.

The question was how to find and serve him. As the rig rattled past, a boy coming along the street noticed the old woman, poised uncertainly. "Let me help you across, sister." The boy took her arm and then stiffened in surprise, for under his fingers was not a withered arm, but bulging muscles hard as rope. The boy looked into the eyes between the bonnet and the fan held directly before the face because of the dust from the passing buggy.

Around the clear eyes was firm, smooth skin. Then the eyes twinkled. Briefly, the fan was lowered, and the boy saw the square jaw faintly blue from the close shave, the upper lip a bit pale where the mustache had been. "Uncle John!" "Shh," father said. "Help an old lady across the street." On the other side of the road, father quavered in a cracking falsetto.

"Thank you, my boy." "My pleasure, sister," the boy said and walked on. He would remember nothing except that he helped an old woman across the street. Father continued his bent an uncertain way to his front gate and along the path to the porch. "Good afternoon, Joseph," he said in the falsetto. "Is your mother home?" "Mother is away, sister," Joseph said loudly for the benefit of the neighbors.

"But let me drive you home. "It's a long walk on a hot day. "Sit on the porch in the shade while I hitch up." Father sat in the porch rocker, fluttering the fan before his face. A buggy drew up before the gate. It was the process server again, back with some second thought. Having been seen, father could do nothing but sit and sweat it out.

As the process server climbed down, father adjusted the bonnet low on his forehead, hunched his wide shoulders under the dress. The process server came up the walk, paused at the porch steps, and eyed the figure of the old woman. "Good afternoon, brother," father said in the quaking falsetto. A sly look came into the man's eye. He had thrown away his cigar down the street.

This was nothing. There was nothing to distinguish him from any good Mormon the woman had called brother. He tipped his derby. "Good afternoon, sister. "Hot, ain't it?" "Unusual for this time of year," father said, fluttering the fan. "Where's the tailor boyer?" "Joseph," father said helpfully.

"Ah, yes, Joseph, a fine lad "and a credit to his great father. "Joseph is at the barn hitching up to take me home." So the kid was out of the way. "I'm brother Smith from Canada." "Smith," father said. "Are you one of the..." "No relation," the man said hastily. That had been a slip. Among the Mormons, Smith was a name of great prestige.

"Except we are all brothers in the gospel." "Yes, indeed, brother," father said. "And we must hang together these days. "I'm sister Andrews." The man tipped his derby. "Pleased to meet you, sister. "I just arrived from Canada. "Brother Taylor and I had a business conference "just before he left. "I'm associated with him "in the irrigation project up there.

"Perhaps you heard about it." "Oh, yes, indeed," father admitted. "Brother Taylor told me to meet him here today "to sign some important papers, but he didn't," the man said with a laugh. "Tell me how you met him. "You know brother John W. is." "I'll see you in Farmington today," he says, but nobody in town admits he's here. When I ask about him, people look at me as if I'm a processor or something.

I'm a convert. I was raised in the East, and I don't know anybody around here who could vouch for me. Of course, sister Taylor knows who I am. She's heard about me from brother John W., but she's away. And I'm afraid Joseph is too well-trained. The papers have to be signed today or the deal will fall through. And it means a great deal to brother Taylor. He wants to see me.

I want to see him. But how do we find each other? Father was thoroughly enjoying the situation. It had the elements of humor and danger, and he loved both. The fan concealed the grin on his face as he led the process server into the clumsy lie. Then glancing down, father saw that the cuff of his pants showed at his right ankle. "Brother Smith, look towards the barn," he said. "I don't want the boy to hear anything."

While the man took a look toward the barn, father pulled up his pants leg and adjusted his skirts decorously. "The boy's not in sight," the man reported. "I can't say that it's true," father said. "But if you should be at Liberty Park tonight "and see there a man with a long white beard, "you'll understand, brother," a knowing wink. "I understand, sister." "I haven't told you anything about brother Taylor."

"Not a thing, sister. "Thank you, and good day." The process server went out to his buggy and drove away with a determined gleam in his eye. When Joseph brought the buggy from the barn, father emerged from the house without disguise, dressed in a knife-edge suit and with a hat at a jaunty angle. The boy's jaw dropped. "But father," "Uncle Moe's," father corrected.

"Uncle Moe's? "There was a process server." When I was a young man, father climbed me into the buggy and taking the reins. I enjoyed teaching Sunday school. I loved to teach, and I have just taught a gentleman never to take advantage of helpless old ladies. Now, these were some fun stories of miracles that happen when we follow correct principle, when we nullify the unconstitutional and illegal acts of any level of government.

Learn more at thetreeoflibertysociety.com. Click on the Learn tab. Also, learn about solutions and what we're doing to preserve lost liberty by picking up "Invasion" volume one and two. I'm Ben McClintock from the Tree of Liberty Society. I'll see you next time.