Founding Principles

A More Perfect Union
A presentation on
The Founding Principles
James D. Best
Author of
Tempest at Dawn, The Shopkeeper, Leadville,
Murder at Thumb Butte, The Shut Mouth Society, &
The Digital Organization

Lessons for Posterity
“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

A Little Background
Started writing fiction in 1998
Previously wrote non-fiction
The Digital Organization
Magazine columns
Journal articles

Historical Novels

Dramatizing The Founding
Tempest at Dawn
Twelve year project
Novelization of Constitutional Convention
Inside Chamber—True to Madison’s notes
Outside Chamber—many events historical or based on circumstantial evidence
Accurate character presentation
Alternating Points of View

What We’ll Talk About
Why they’re important
Why the United States is unique
We did not evolve
Study, thought, debate, and decision
How these principles became embedded in our Constitution
How they’ve been eroded

The Country in 1787
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

Common Mindset
Founding Principles disavowed Divine Right and Mercantilism
Declaration, sermons, debates, newspapers, pamphlets
Common education
Aristotle, Montesquieu, Locke, Hume, Adam Smith
Differing opinions on details of government
State vs. National government
Strong legislature vs. balanced power
Power of executive
Slavery
Western lands
Agrarian vs. industrial
Enfranchisement

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.

Rights Come From God, Not Government
Declaration of Independence
Founders did not believe governments protected rights.
They believed governments threatened rights.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are createdequal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness
Limiting government protects rights

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
“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
A Revolt Against Divine Right of Kings

Limited Representative Republic
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.”
“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

Since the Mayflower Compact, Americans have wanted the rules of government written down.
A social contract based on reason, where the people hold political power, must be in writing, so everyone can study, debate, and approve it.
“An unwritten constitution is not a constitution at all”—Thomas Paine

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

United States Constitution
Consistent with Founding Principles
Ratified by conventions of the people
Original Constitution had no Bill Of Rights
Government did not bestow rights
Enumerated powers—limited authority
Government not an agency to protect rights
Added by first congress
Bill of Rights consistent with Founding Principles
Not a list of rights—government restrictions
Enumerated Powers
Separation of Power
Checks and Balances
States Check National Government
Leaders Selected by Different Means
Varying Terms
Congress shall make no law
shall not be infringed
shall not be violated
nor be deprived
shall not be required

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.

The People Speak
Ratification not easy or a given
Subject of discussion and argument
Taverns
Sermons
Town meetings
Federalist and Anti-Federalist
Ratification Debates
An entire nation applied its collective intellect to approve the Constitution

Erosion of The Founding Principles
Alien and Sedition Acts—John Adams
Hamilton/Jefferson rivalry
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

Erosion Was Not With Consent of the People
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.”

Unalienable rights come from God, not government
All political power emanates from the people
Private property rights

“A republic, if you can keep it.”
Benjamin Franklin

Thank You

Founding Principles

by James D. Best on May 03, 2011

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Founding Principles — Presentation Transcript