US Constitution: A Primer, Part Two
“WE the PEOPLE of the united States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessing of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
–Preamble to the US Constitution
Our government, under our written Constitution, is the first and only government ever founded based on sovereignty residing in the PEOPLE. There is a well-established principle in law that the created entity is never greater (in power, in extent, in authority) than its creator. That makes sense; how could a town’s highway department, for example, be greater in power and authority than the town that established it in the first place? We, the People, created the government; we retain sovereignty and grant the government PRIVILEGES in order to perform the duties with which we have charged it. We the People can REVOKE those privileges whenever we have the guts to demand it.
We are also a Constitutional Republic – this is greatly different from a Democracy. Back in elementary school, I asked what the difference was – no teacher could explain it to me; they didn’t know themselves – yet this is a crucial piece of information. The difference is that a Republic is based on LAWS that NO vote of the majority can overturn. A majority-vote democracy can vote to take your property from you – up to and including your life – and you have no recourse (remember “community rights?” –> that is an example of unfettered democracy –> as is a lynch mob). In a Republic, the safety of your life and property cannot be revoked by majority vote – even if every single voter votes to take your property. In a Constitutional Republic, those basic rules are written at the start; plain and clear for all to see and to depend upon.
Let us make a brief detour for a pertinent side-note here. There is a huge push (currently and over the past several decades) to divide us “left” versus “right,” telling us how utterly different those two political viewpoints are from each other. That is absolutely the WRONG differentiator, and serves as a distraction from the true difference. The TRUE difference is the desired degree of government control – from NONE to TOTAL. We will discuss this in more detail in a later article. For now we will merely note this issue and illustrate the actual spectrum of distinction, below, and note the approximate location on this spectrum of the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution as originally conceived and written.
–Preamble to the US Constitution
Our government, under our written Constitution, is the first and only government ever founded based on sovereignty residing in the PEOPLE. There is a well-established principle in law that the created entity is never greater (in power, in extent, in authority) than its creator. That makes sense; how could a town’s highway department, for example, be greater in power and authority than the town that established it in the first place? We, the People, created the government; we retain sovereignty and grant the government PRIVILEGES in order to perform the duties with which we have charged it. We the People can REVOKE those privileges whenever we have the guts to demand it.
We are also a Constitutional Republic – this is greatly different from a Democracy. Back in elementary school, I asked what the difference was – no teacher could explain it to me; they didn’t know themselves – yet this is a crucial piece of information. The difference is that a Republic is based on LAWS that NO vote of the majority can overturn. A majority-vote democracy can vote to take your property from you – up to and including your life – and you have no recourse (remember “community rights?” –> that is an example of unfettered democracy –> as is a lynch mob). In a Republic, the safety of your life and property cannot be revoked by majority vote – even if every single voter votes to take your property. In a Constitutional Republic, those basic rules are written at the start; plain and clear for all to see and to depend upon.
Let us make a brief detour for a pertinent side-note here. There is a huge push (currently and over the past several decades) to divide us “left” versus “right,” telling us how utterly different those two political viewpoints are from each other. That is absolutely the WRONG differentiator, and serves as a distraction from the true difference. The TRUE difference is the desired degree of government control – from NONE to TOTAL. We will discuss this in more detail in a later article. For now we will merely note this issue and illustrate the actual spectrum of distinction, below, and note the approximate location on this spectrum of the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution as originally conceived and written.
The Preamble is the “mission statement” – WHAT were the Founders trying to do? The new country had been governed under the Articles of Confederation for ten years. The government was NOT working; the experiment was falling apart. The Confederation was an imperfect union; in practice it had too little power, and was too close the 0% side of our illustration. There was no national authority to levy and collect any kind of tax – instead the government had to beg & cajole the states for money (including the money needed to repay the loans to finance the Revolutionary War, from Spain and France). The states themselves imposed tariffs against goods from other states – treating them as though they were foreign countries instead of Confederates in the same Union. There was rampant inflation at the national level (the Continental dollar’s inflation led to the phrase “Not Worth a Continental,” which is still heard – if rarely – today). The states had their own internal currencies, as well, which were also grossly debased and inflated.
Desperate to keep the new country from collapsing, Congress called for a Convention to re-vamp the Articles of Confederation – and that convention instead came up with the new Constitution (warning for those who believe a Con-Con will resolve our current problems). The Preamble, the mission statement, shows the clear intentions of the Convention. A more perfect union – more perfect than the Articles of Confederation. The next three items provide a stable society. “General welfare” consists of those things that are good for the public as a whole (roads, commerce, shipping). The final item is the crux: the reason we FOUGHT the Revolutionary War in the first place – liberty, for us and our children, and their children.
In essence, what IS the Constitution, and how is it supposed to carry out its mission statement? The Constitution is a political trust – the Founders were the creators of that trust; the trustees are the elected President, Congress-critters and every one who takes the legally binding Oath of Office to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution”; and WE are the beneficiaries.
Keep in mind also that the sovereign STATES were very jealous of their own power and did not want to be subsumed into one nation. We are a confederation (league or alliance) with Dual Sovereignty – Federal and State. (More definitions here: federal – pertaining to a compact or league; national – pertaining to an organized whole or independent political unit.) The Federal Government was given power BY THE STATES AND THE PEOPLE, via the Constitution, ONLY to deal with those few areas where a united front is crucial – international relations, defense, currency, problems between states. Even on those occasions when government IS the solution; the Founders were certain that the government best able to address most issues is local, not national – most issues were to be addressed by your STATE, your COUNTY, your TOWN.
In order to prevent the new government from usurping power, it was split into three branches. The Constitution is divided into Articles, and the first three are Ye Olde “Checks and Balances” that deliberately and explicitly limit, divide, and balance the government’s authority. Some sources state that the first three articles are based on the division of power noted in Isaiah 33:22, “The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save us.” Certainly the Framers were well-versed in the Old Testament and knew Isaiah as well as the self-governing structure of power from the people, up, as described in the book of Exodus. A similar structure existed in the Saxon tribes of Britain, as well - and they knew their British history, too.
Thomas Jefferson wrote, “The two enemies of the people are criminals and government; we must tie the latter in the chains of the Constitution, lest it become a legal version of former.” He also stated, "My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."
The next essay will begin our examination of the seven Articles of the Constitution, and it would be very useful to have a copy of the text nearby as you read. Free copies are available online at:
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html ,
http://constitutionus.com/ ,
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html ,
http://law.justia.com/constitution/us/ (this one is annotated),
and other locations.
Primary References:
“Good To Be King” Michael Badnarik, 2004, The Writer’s Collective
“The 5,000 Year Leap” W. Cleon Skousen, 1981, National Center for Constitutional Studies
Desperate to keep the new country from collapsing, Congress called for a Convention to re-vamp the Articles of Confederation – and that convention instead came up with the new Constitution (warning for those who believe a Con-Con will resolve our current problems). The Preamble, the mission statement, shows the clear intentions of the Convention. A more perfect union – more perfect than the Articles of Confederation. The next three items provide a stable society. “General welfare” consists of those things that are good for the public as a whole (roads, commerce, shipping). The final item is the crux: the reason we FOUGHT the Revolutionary War in the first place – liberty, for us and our children, and their children.
In essence, what IS the Constitution, and how is it supposed to carry out its mission statement? The Constitution is a political trust – the Founders were the creators of that trust; the trustees are the elected President, Congress-critters and every one who takes the legally binding Oath of Office to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution”; and WE are the beneficiaries.
Keep in mind also that the sovereign STATES were very jealous of their own power and did not want to be subsumed into one nation. We are a confederation (league or alliance) with Dual Sovereignty – Federal and State. (More definitions here: federal – pertaining to a compact or league; national – pertaining to an organized whole or independent political unit.) The Federal Government was given power BY THE STATES AND THE PEOPLE, via the Constitution, ONLY to deal with those few areas where a united front is crucial – international relations, defense, currency, problems between states. Even on those occasions when government IS the solution; the Founders were certain that the government best able to address most issues is local, not national – most issues were to be addressed by your STATE, your COUNTY, your TOWN.
In order to prevent the new government from usurping power, it was split into three branches. The Constitution is divided into Articles, and the first three are Ye Olde “Checks and Balances” that deliberately and explicitly limit, divide, and balance the government’s authority. Some sources state that the first three articles are based on the division of power noted in Isaiah 33:22, “The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save us.” Certainly the Framers were well-versed in the Old Testament and knew Isaiah as well as the self-governing structure of power from the people, up, as described in the book of Exodus. A similar structure existed in the Saxon tribes of Britain, as well - and they knew their British history, too.
Thomas Jefferson wrote, “The two enemies of the people are criminals and government; we must tie the latter in the chains of the Constitution, lest it become a legal version of former.” He also stated, "My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."
The next essay will begin our examination of the seven Articles of the Constitution, and it would be very useful to have a copy of the text nearby as you read. Free copies are available online at:
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html ,
http://constitutionus.com/ ,
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html ,
http://law.justia.com/constitution/us/ (this one is annotated),
and other locations.
Primary References:
“Good To Be King” Michael Badnarik, 2004, The Writer’s Collective
“The 5,000 Year Leap” W. Cleon Skousen, 1981, National Center for Constitutional Studies