Tea Partyers Used Fourth for Studying Founding Principles

BEALETON, VA. – Tea party groups across the nation combined the celebration of Independence Day with study and discussions on the principles of democracy in an effort to better organize for the upcoming election.

The festivals and other gatherings focused on the Constitution -- and how to use it for political victories in November, organizers told The Washington Post. The trend reflects a growing effort among conservatives to teach supporters how to do political battle using an inviolable weapon: the nation's founding documents.

"The rallies were a start, but the goal now is to get people to stop and really think about things," said Kerry Scott, an organizer of the Alexandria Tea Party, one of several hundred conservative activists who attended "An American Event," a Fourth of July festival for "God and country" staged by a local farmer on rolling farmland in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains this weekend.

Amid Civil War reenactors, a reading of the Declaration of Independence and booths selling Native American artwork, Scott handed out strips of white paper, each printed with quotations from such American luminaries as Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Washington.

"With knowledge, there is power," she said. "And having an understanding of the Constitution can lead to electing people who will uphold it."

Read the entire story at The Washington Post.