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ThoL Week 16 (McGirr)
1
Threads of Liberty Week 16
Creating an Independent Nation
Week 16
Reading Assignment
Pg 298-310
Begin at the bottom of 298 with Valley Forge
Reading
Assignment
The Declaration
The Greatest Political Document of All Time.
Days 2-4
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.
Judge Michael Warren (Constituting America):
"The Founders declared, against the historical experiences and beliefs of the ages, six founding First Principles, all of which were quite revolutionary at the time, and remain revolutionary today."
Why?
#1: The Rule of Law
The Rule of Law
- The government and the People are both bound by the law.
- The British Empire was no longer following the fundamental unwritten English Constitution. Until 1776, it was just assumed that most rulers did not need to follow the law, and that the privileged were exempt from the laws that applied to the vast majority of the People.
- The Declaration of Independence declared – no more! The law should apply equally to all in society, whether they be in the government or the masses, the richest or the most poor. We turned the world upside down.
#2: Equality
Equality
- All men are created equal. This idea is perhaps the most controversial of them all, because the Founding Fathers fell so short of its ideal in practice. But, the Founding Fathers were the very first to proclaim that a nation should be dedicated in this belief.
- Belief that the God created all people, and therefore we are all equal in His eyes and under our law.
- Until 1776, no government was established on equality or even declared it should be so. Instead, inequality was the key historical reality and belief of the day. A privileged few lorded over subjects. It was done as a matter of tradition and codified into the law.
We fell short in our reality, but we were the first to commit our nation to equality.
#3: Unalienable Rights
Unalienable Rights
- A right means the People do not have to seek permission from the government.
- “Unalienable” means that the rights cannot be taken away, they are born within each person and can never be taken away by the government.
- Because our rights come from God, they cannot be sold or taken away.
- No other society has rested on the foundation of unalienable rights.
#4: Social Compact
- The idea of the Social Compact is that the People have come together and created a government to protect their unalienable rights.
- The government rests on the consent of the People and only acts justly with that consent.
- Before 1776, likely no government believed in a true Social Compact, they usually took power by force and violence, and coerced its subjects to follow its dictates.
Social Compact
#5: Limited Government
Limited Goovernment
- Because the government is formed to protect our unalienable rights, the just limit of its powers is to protect those rights and some ancillary powers.
- To ensure that the government remains free and just, we limit its powers and authority.
- In most of human history, governments were developed with the opposite belief that they were unlimited unless they carved out some privileges to their subjects.
#6: Reform & Revolution
Reform & Revolution
- If a government becomes unjust and violates our unalienable rights, we have the right to reform or even abolish it.
- If reform failed, and the government undertook a long train of abuses with the intention to assert an absolute despotism on the People, then the People have the right – in fact, the duty – to overthrow the government and start anew.