Dear Friends,
It seems to me, as we celebrate Independence day, we should keep in mind the true significance of this day. The independence of the United States, or at the time semi united colonies, was a watershed in human history. It became the first rationally formed government based on the advances of the Enlightenment. There had been many rationally formed governments over the millennia, but none had included… Natural Rights, which gives rise to individualism, Constitutionalism, in which government is formed by contract limiting it’s power scope and authority, as well as Montesquieu’s idea of breaking the executive branch into two parts, the executive and the judicial, to further limit the likelihood of a government escaping the bonds of it’s constitution, which had happened so many times in the past.
Constitutionalism was an older idea that had met with limited success. Madison wrote extensively about the past failures of other constitutions in the Federalist Papers. Nevertheless, the independence of the US from Britain, and indeed Europe, allowed the framers of our Constitution the ability to write a totally new Constitution. One that included modern advances in philosophical thought, psychological advances, with eyes wide open as to the the nature of government, it’s tendencies and written based on debate and discourse, rather than imposed by trickery or force of violence. The Framers examined the examples of ancient Greece and Rome, even considering mimicking the Roman system since it had lasted so long, but in the end, decided to write a brand new Constitution.
There have been many rationally formed government’s. In ancient Persia, after the Magi killed Cambyses and were exposed, they debated whether to try democracy, aristocracy or continue with monarchy. They decided on monarchy since it had worked so well with Cyrus the Great. So there have been many rationally formed governments even long ago. The idea of natural rights on the other hand, was new, and had only been born into being by John Locke. For the first time in human history, the conventional idea of the founders of a government believed that everyone had Rights that derived from God, or the Universe, that exist outside of human imposed government, both oppressive and lenient. The idea of the Individual as an autonomous self important person was born and writ into law.
Aristotle wrote, there are three “right” forms of government, three “wrong” forms of government and one “ideal” form. The three right forms, monarchy, aristocracy and polity, the wrong forms, tyranny, oligarchy and democracy, and the ideal form is a republic or blending of three forms. Montesquieu was an intellectual who looked into why governments fail. He noticed that the most common failure throughout human history was that they eventually became tyrannical. He also noticed that tyranny usually arose from the executive branch (Monarchical part). The executive abused his power to adjudicate law. Making law a means to oppress rather than normalize. So he removed adjudicating law from the executive to eliminate it’s ability to abuse that power, and the Framers embraced that wisdom.
The US Constitution is a document of profound intellect tempered with deep wisdom. It establishes that each of us, you, the guy down the road, the women hanging laundry and I, have intrinsic value based on Natural Rights. Our Constitution guarantees our natural Right to, free speech, freedom to keep and bare arms, freedom of religion, freedom in our person and papers as well as freehold land Rights. It limits the role, scope and power of the government strictly to those it actually enumerates, not what can be levered in by a clever twist of logic. Madison even saying explicitly in the Federalist Papers that what powers the Constitution does not give… it does not allow. The celebration of Independence Day is celebrating not just the declaration of independence but the advances of the Enlightenment as well.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
