The Founding Principles

James D. Best

“The infant periods of most nations are buried in silence, or veiled in fable, and perhaps the world has lost little it should regret. But the origins of the American Republic contain lessons of which posterity ought not to be deprived.” James Madison

Historical Novels

Nonfiction

Twelve year project

Novelization of Constitutional

Convention

Inside Chamber—True to

Madison’s notes

Outside Chamber—events historical

or based on circumstantial

evidence

Accurate character presentation

Alternating Points of View

Tempest at Dawn

1. Why are the Founding Principles

important?

2. Why is the United States unique? We did not evolve or arise from war

Study, thought, debate, and decision

3. How these principles became embedded in

Constitution

4. How they’ve been eroded

Agenda

• Articles of Confederation not working• National government couldn’t collect taxes• War Debts not being paid• No common or sound money• States negotiating with foreign powers• Commerce, states taxing each other• Shays’ Revolt• Political leaders feared mob rule

5 Years Since End of Revolution

What Are The Founding Principles? Rights come from God, not

government

All political power emanates from the

people

Limited representative republic

Written Constitution

Private property rights

What the Founders would agree on prior to Constitutional Convention.

• Founding Principles disavowed Divine Right and Mercantilism • Declaration, sermons, debates, newspapers, pamphlets• Common education —Enlightenment

Aristotle, Montesquieu, Locke, Hume, Adam Smith

• Differing opinions on details of government State vs. National government Slavery Strong legislature vs. balanced power Power of executive Western lands Agrarian vs. industrial Enfranchisement

Rights Come From God, Not Government

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

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them…

• Governments did not protect

rights

• Governments threatened rights

• Limiting government power

protects rights

“What is a Constitution? It is the form of government, delineated by the mighty hand of the people, in which certain first principles of fundamental law are established. The Constitution is certain and fixed; it contains the permanent will of the people, and is the supreme law of the land … and can be revoked or altered only by the authority that made it.” —William Paterson, Delegate to the Federal Convention

All Political Power Emanates From The People

“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” — Declaration of Independence

A Revolt Against Divine Right of Kings

James Madison, Delegate to the Federal Convention

“We may define a republic to be … a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure for a limited period.”

Limited Representative Republic

“If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one…’

The Founders believed that liberty depends on each part of the government acting as an effective check on all the

other parts

“An unwritten constitution is not a constitution at all”—Thomas Paine (?)

Written Constitution

A social contract based on reason, where the people hold political power, must be in writing, so everyone can study, debate, and approve it.

Since the Mayflower Compact, Americans have wanted the rules of government written down.

Private Property Rights

“The pillars of our prosperity are the most thriving when left most free to individual enterprise.” Thomas Jefferson

• Influenced by Adam Smith• Free markets build wealth• The Founders believed private property rights and liberty

were intertwined.• Property defined broadly• If government allows bullies to take what they want,

anarchy reigns. • If government gathers up property unto itself, oppression

reigns.• Few restraints on the industrious, the inventive, and the

entrepreneurial

• Consistent with Founding

Principles

• Ratified by conventions of the

people

• Limited representative republic

United States Constitution

1. Enumerated Powers2. Separation of Power3. Checks and Balances4. States Check National Government5. Leaders Selected by Different Means6. Varying Terms7. Restricted taxing authority8. Separation of church and state

• Ratification not easy or a given • Subject of discussion and argument • Taverns• Sermons• Town meetings• Federalist and Anti-Federalist• Ratification Debates

An entire nation collectively approved the Constitution

Congress shall make no lawshall not be infringedshall not be violatednor be deprivedshall not be required

Original Constitution had no Bill Of

Rights• Government did not bestow rights• Enumerated powers—limited authority• Government not an agency to protect rights• Bill of Rights added by First Congress• Bill of Rights remains consistent with Founding

Principles• Not a list of rights—government restrictions

9th Amendment

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

10th Amendment

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.

Erosion started almost immediately

• Hamilton/Jefferson rivalry• Alien and Sedition Acts—John Adams• Louisiana Purchase—Jefferson• Foreign Entanglements/War—Madison• Leader of the New World—Monroe• Huge New Federal Programs—John Quincy Adams• Populism and Progressivism—Jackson• Supreme Court Rulings

George Washington

“If in the opinion of the people the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation.”

Erosion Was Not With Consent of the People

• Unalienable rights come from God, not

government

• All political power emanates from the people

• Limited representative republic

• Written Constitution

• Private property rights

The Founding Principles

“A republic, if you can keep it.”

Benjamin Franklin

Thank You