The Madeira Society was founded by Mr. Benjamin Franklin and his associates in the late 1700's.

The beginning of the Society is known to History; however the Society and its workings have been a closely kept secret, at the urging of Mr. Franklin, who remains adamant about maintaining his privacy.

How the Madeira Society Began

In the Spring of 1773, Mr. Benjamin Franklin was in London, enjoying a lunch with friends.  They were served a bottle of Madeira wine imported from one of the American colonies.  Three flies were found embalmed within the bottle, trapped within when the wine was bottled in America months earlier.  The ever-inquisitive Mr. Franklin placed the three flies upon a sunny windowsill, and, before long, watched two of the flies "return from the dead" -- moving, walking, and soon flying away.

Mr. Franklin described the event in a letter to a friend in France, and went on to write:

"I wish it were possible, from this instance, to invent a method of embalming drowned persons, in such a manner that they might be recalled to life at any period, however distant; for having very ardent desire to see and observe the state of America a hundred years hence, I should prefer to an ordinary death, being immersed with a few friends in a cask of Madeira, until that time, then to be recalled to life by the solar warmth of my dear country."
    -- Benjamin Franklin, from a letter to Jacques Barbeu Dubourg, dated April, 1773.

This letter eventually led to the founding of "The Madeira Society", whose members were immersed with a few friends in giant casks of Madeira wine.

At the request of Mr. Franklin in addition to several other prominent members, the workings of the Society today remain secret, as does its list of members.  A special exception has been made for Mr. & Mrs. Richard Henry Lee, who pleaded pressing business relating to the political decentralization of the United States of America.

Mr. Lee is pleased to propose new Articles of Confederation, which he hopes may help our country and our planet to be more peaceful, happy, prosperous, safe, and beautiful.  The new Articles are based upon the original Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union.

• The new Articles start with a preamble based upon the preamble to the U.S. Constitution.  In this preamble, "We the People" repeal and abolish the U.S. Constitution and return to the Articles of Confederation as revised.
  
  
• Unlike the current U.S. Constitution, these new Articles of Confederation have a Bill of Rights as their very first article.  The U.S. Constitution originally included no Bill of Rights, and was given one in the form of amendments.
  
  
• The text of the next four articles (Articles II, III, IV, and V) are taken almost verbatim from the original Articles of Confederation.  In addition to each state's sovereignty, freedom, and independence, an explicit "right to secede" is also retained.  And an explicit requirement for consensus, i.e., unanimous assent, is specified for measures of Congress, each state having one vote.
  
  
• Article VI directs the distribution and decentralization of the former federal Government of the United States of America.
  
  
• Article VII specifies how the Articles may be altered, returning to the method specified in the original Articles of Confederation: consensus, i.e., unanimous consent..
  
  
• Within the new Articles, Mr. Lee has italicized new text, to distinguish it from text which is taken unchanged from the original documents.

Mr. Lee welcomes your feedback; his email is:

RichardHenryLee@CSMNL.com

What's New?!

17 August 2003: Richard Henry Lee, visiting France, invites Frédéric Bastiat to dinner.

27 August 2003: Benjamin Franklin and Richard Henry Lee write an open letter to Governor Gray Davis and all the candidates for Governor of the State of California, proposing an "Anti-Federalist Plan for California"

16 September 2003: Floreffe, Belgium: charles presents: "Who is Yertle?" to a class of students learning English.

18 September 2003: Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Richard Henry Lee presents: "Anti-Federalism: An Idea Whose Time Has Come."

 

Thanks for visiting!