What the Founders must have known

The writings of the Founders display a far broader knowledge of historical, political, religious, economic and philosophical studies than one can find in any cross section of leaders in America today.

In debating the manner and form of their new nation’s government, they sought freedom, prosperity and peace. To achieve this in a self-governing country required a belief that the individual citizens would be educated to the importance of the task and accept the responsibilities inherent therein.

They saw freedom, specifically freedom for the individual as the overriding purpose of any government. They knew that democracies throughout history had descended into despotic tyrannies with a total loss of individual freedom. Democracies in their eyes exhibited all the weaknesses of the rule of men and their potential for personal power and control. Thus their decision to establish a republic based on the rule of law to which all would submit, rich and poor, knowledgeable and ignorant, farmer or merchant.

Freedom did not mean license to do whatever one pleased. Rather, it meant opportunity to achieve maximum potential for each individual operating within the bounds of rational behavior and with respect for fellow citizens.

To guarantee such freedom, the Founders wrote a Constitution that severely limited the areas of activity and responsibility of the federal government. The powers granted were not aimed at the individual citizen but at the government in general in fulfilling its duty to preserve and protect the freedom and property of every individual. Such protection extended to both domestic and foreign tranquility. Thus, Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution which limits the federal government to 17 specific areas of activity. The 18th item in the list was to provide Congress with the power to enact laws in fulfillment of the prior 17.

As careful students of the Bible, they had a strong belief in religious principles. They believed in “right and wrong” in their determination of the principles upon which they crafted the Constitution. They knew of corruption but believed it beyond their concern since only truly moral individuals would want to serve in government. They did not consider the possibility of individuals seeking a political career. Rather, that serving in whatever capacity was an honor and only a temporary assignment after which each would return to pursue whatever livelihood they wished or had previously enjoyed.

Having experienced the devastating results of fiat currency during the revolution, they recognized the need for a sound, commodity based currency. To achieve this and prevent the potential of counterfeiting and the destructive aspects of inflation, they decided that gold and silver were the commodities on which the US currency would be based. To make the point as universal as possible, they inserted a clause (Art. I, Sec. 10.), that “No State shall . . . make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts . . .” Take a moment to reflect on how different our circumstances would be today if we had stuck by the Constitution. This was part of the Founders understanding of how prosperity could be achieved.
In the Declaration of Independence, the Founders enumerated the tyrannical acts of a irresponsive monarch whom they considered to be both illegal and opposed to the rights of free men and women.

Consider if you will the following acts among many which were addressed in the Constitution in order to prevent their recurrence under their new government: quartering of soldiers in citizen’s homes during time of peace; rendering the military independent of and superior to the civil power; imposing taxes without citizen’s consent; depriving us (Americans) of trial by jury; and many more stated infractions.

In short, the Constitution was the Founders’ determination to set forth a solid foundation on which government could perform its assigned duties, all of which were essentially done to secure the blessings of freedom, prosperity and peace to themselves and successive generations to come.

That’s my view. What’s yours? Reach me at constitutionviews@gmail.com
©Copyright 2011 Hillard W. Welch.