Constitution class slideshow

Introduction

• The 5000 Year Leap – Principles of Freedom (1981)
• The Making of America – The substance and meaning of the constitution

Agenda
• Constitution in one word
• Founding Fathers
• Why is the Constitution Important?
• Myths about the Constitution
• The Preamble of the United States Constitution
• About liberty and how easily it can be lost
• Political Spectrum
• Horizontal separation of powers
• Vertical separation of powers
• Warnings from the Founding Fathers
• Principles behind the Constitution
• The Bill of Rights
• Amendments
• Further reading

Constitution in one word
• Freedom
• Prosperity
• Peace / Safety

All mankind, all around the world, is seeking the same three things:

• Mankind longs for freedom – both personally and nationally

• Mankind longs for prosperity - both personally and nationally
• Mankind longs for peace and the means of escaping from the
apocalyptic anguish brought on by the plague of war

Founding Fathers
• They created the first free people to survive as a
nation in modern times
• They wrote a new kind of Constitution which is now
the oldest in existence
• They believed it was thoroughly possible to create a
new kind of civilization, giving freedom, equality ,
and justice for all
• They built a free-enterprise culture to encourage
industry and prosperity
• A few of the Founding Fathers:
– Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence
– James Madison, “father” of the Constitution
– George Washington, hero-general of the War for Independence
– George Mason, author of the first American Bill of Rights in Virginia
– Other representatives - There were 74 delegates at the constitutional convention.

Founding Fathers - 2
• Founding Fathers and subsequent leaders debated,
researched and evaluated nearly 300 separate principles
before they were included in the Constitution.
• Hardly any single idea put in their formula that someone
hadn’t thought before. However, the singularity of it all, was
the fact that in 1787, none of those ideas was being
substantially practiced anywhere in the world. It was in
America that the Founding Fathers assembled the 28 great
ideas that produced such successful formula
• It was not successful from the first attempt. Actually it took
about 180 years to gather all ideas in one document. The first
constitution ends up too close to Anarchy – the national
government made recommendations to the states and then
prayed they would respond favorably.

Trivia about Jefferson:

• It was said that he “could calculate an eclipse, survey
an estate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, try a cause,
break a horse, dance a minuet, and play the violin."
• One of his biographers quotes a northern man who
spoke thus of Jefferson: " When he spoke of law, I
thought he was a lawyer; when he talked about
mechanics, I was sure he was an engineer; when he got
into medicine, it was evident that he was a physician;
when he discussed theology, I was convinced that he
must be a clergyman; when he talked literature, I made
up my mind that I had run against a college professor
who knew everything."

Why is the Constitution Important?
• Constitution is the supreme law of the land. With the
adoption of the Constitution our nation became a
nation based on law, the Constitution being the
supreme law of the land.
• Is about individual freedom and liberty
• Is about individual rights, and it explains the past,
present and future. It’s a guide for future generations.
• It explains why the US can be the greatest country in
the world. The US represents approximately 5% of the
world’s population, but has created more new wealth
than all the rest of the world combined.

• Why we are no longer the greatest country in the world?

 We have not followed the admonition of our Founding Fathers:
“A people must from time to time, refresh themselves at the well-spring of their origin, lest
they perish.”

 We have not assigned the maintaining of our Freedom a high priority:
“A frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of the constitution, and a constant
adherence to those of piety, justice, moderation, temperance, industry and frugality are
absolutely necessary to preserve the advantage of liberty and to maintain a free
government.”
(MA Bill of Rights, 1780)

 We have allowed the mortal enemies of freedom to dominate the debate:
“Though, when a people shall have become incapable of governing themselves and fit for a
master, it is of little consequence, from what quarter he comes.”
(G. Washington., Letter to Lafayette, 1788)

“Effective resistance to usurpers is possible only provided the citizens understand their rights
and are disposed to defend them.”
(the Federalist no28., Alexander Hamilton)


• Contains the solutions, the path to get back to the greatest
country in the world, that beacon of “liberty, prosperity and
hope”

Myths about the Constitution
• Myth: The Constitution is out of date.
Fact: The Constitution is NOT out of date. It is not more out of date
than the desire for peace, freedom and prosperity is out of date.
• Myth: It was custom built for that particular age or economy.
Fact: It was NOT custom built for a particular age or economy.
FOUNDING FATHERS were structuring a framework of
government to fit the requirements of human nature. These do NOT
change. Human Nature does NOT change.
• Myth: It is a conglomerate of compromises.
Fact: It took 4 months of debate to be able to reach general
agreement on just about everything except the issues of slavery,
proportionate representation, and the regulation of commerce –
settled by compromise. It is a mistake to describe the rest of the
Constitution as a “conglomerate of compromises”, because extreme
patience was used to bring the minds into agreement.

• Myth: It was about things that changed and no longer apply.
• Fact: It is about the Human Nature
– The founders were optimistic as well as realistic about human
nature.
– They realized that all human beings are a mixture of sunshine
and shadow.
• The sunshine consists of the perfectibility of human reason – this
makes government and civilization possible.
• The darker side of human nature is the imperfectability of human
passion and man’s fault sense of judgment that makes government
necessary.
– The founders’ goal was to revive ancient principles which would
allow the sunshine side of the human nature to enjoy virtually
unlimited freedom, while setting up appropriate safeguards to
prevent the doleful shadow of human passion, greed, and lust
for power from spreading a permanent “dark ages” across the
face of the globe.

• Myth: It was imposed on people
Fact: It was NOT imposed, but ratified.
– FOUNDING FATHERS finished their work on Sep.17. 1787.
– President WA attached a letter to the signed draft and sent it to the
Congress.
– The Congress ratified the Constitution without any changes and sent it
to the states.
– They ratified the main body of the Constitution but attached
amendments. 189!!
– Madison consolidate them to 12 and 10 of them were finally approved
and ratified.
– Thus was born America’s famous Bill of Rights.

• Myth: It’s subject to interpretation and/or obsolete.
Fact: From the founders’ own writings, the Constitution was
intended to be strictly interpreted exactly as it was originally
written.
– They knew that in its original form it would adapt itself very readily to the
needs of changing times.
– It was specifically designed to disperse political power among the people
and protect the freedom of the individual by putting chains on the
excessive ambitions and frailties of human nature, which is always the
same from generation to generation.
– They knew we would need these constitutional chains in our present age
just as much as they did in their own age.
In other words,

The Preamble of the United
States Constitution

The Preamble of the United States Constitution
We, the people - first provision (of 7):
All authority in the People
The People are the only safe depository of power
Instinct of the People is to preserve freedom
Duty of rulers is toward the People
To inform the minds of the people and to follow their will is
the chief duty of those placed a t their head.
 Government should be controlled by the people
Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers
of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe
depositories. And to render even them safe, their minds
must be improved to a certain degree.

2nd : The first goal of sound government is to
provide a more perfect union.

3rd : This constitution is designed to provide
equal justice for all.
– When a government protects the rights of its people and
provides and adequate remedy for whose rights have been
violated, then that government is providing equal justice
for all.
– Justice requires an opportunity and a place to complain of
an injury as well as the machinery to provide a remedy. For
the accused, justice requires the opportunity to hear and
understand the charge, cross-examine those who are
making the charge, have a fair and speedy trial, and have
an opportunity to repair the wrong if found guilty.

4th : This constitution is designed to ensure peace,
security, and domestic tranquility among the
people.
 Q: How do we determine whose responsibility it is to
maintain law and order?
 Q: At what point does the federal government
intervene?
 Q: How can the States defend themselves if the
federal government becomes overbearing?
5th : This constitution shall provide for the
common defense against all enemies, both
internally and externally.

6th : This constitution is designed to promote those
practices and policies which shall be for the general
welfare of the whole nation.
This provision anticipates the RIGHT of Americans to have
its government serve the welfare of the people in their
collective needs – that is, their GENERAL welfare – and not
use the resources of the people for the benefit of certain
states or certain people, which should be SPECIAL welfare.
The federal government had been granted authority by the
states to do ONLY TWENTY THINGS, and that each of these
must be carried out for the GENERAL welfare of the whole
nation.

6th : The Founders said the purpose of the Constitution would be to
secure the blessings of liberty for themselves and their posterity

– Samuel Adams said: "But neither the wisest constitution nor the
wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose
manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend to
the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and
who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man
to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise
and virtuous man."
– When Alexis de Tocqueville came to the US in 1831, he observed
how much the perpetuation of the American political system
depended upon the training of the youth in the schools. He was
particularly astonished by the knowledge that children possessed
concerning the Constitution and how the American system
operated.

About liberty …
…and how easily it can be lost.

Q: Shouldn’t we trust our leaders implicitly when we have
chosen good men to govern us?
A: Power Corrupts Even Good Men.

“Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of
the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being
good men without a consequent loss of liberty!” - Henry

About liberty …and how easily it can be lost.
Q: Why is dangerous to grant more power to rulers
than is ABSOLUTELY necessary?
“Its intent is a concession of power, on the part of the people, to their rulers.
We know that private interest governs mankind generally. Power belongs
originally to the people; but if rulers be not well guarded, that power may
be usurped from them. People ought to be cautious in giving away power.
These gentlemen say there is no occasion for general rules: everyone has one
for himself. Everyone has an unalienable right of thinking for himself. There
can be no inconvenience from laying down general rules. If we give away
more power than we ought, we put ourselves in the situation of a man who
puts on an iron glove, which he can never take off till he breaks his arm. Let
us beware of the iron glove of tyranny.
Power is generally taken from the people by imposing on their
understanding, or by fetters.” – Goudy

Q: When is suspicion of our leader a virtue?
A: Be Jealous of Those in Power for the sake of unborn
generations

Suspicion is justified “as long its object is the
preservation of the public good and stays within
proper bounds.”

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty.
Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel."
- Patrick Henry

Q: When are our rights most endangered?
A: In times of complacency.

“For it is a truth, which the experience of all ages has
attested, that the people are commonly most in danger
when the means of injuring their rights are in the
possession of those of whom they entertain the least
suspicion.”
(Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers, No. 25.)

Q: Why can’t rulers be satisfied with the power which is given
them?
A: Never forget the UNIVERSAL FRAILTY OF HUMAN NATURE
“Indeed, if it were not for the depravity of human nature, we
should stand in no need of human government at all.”
– Livingston

“No power, of any kind or degree, can be given but what may
be abused; we have, therefore, only to consider whether any
particular power is absolutely necessary. If it be, the power must
be given, and we must run the risk of the abuse, considering our
risk of this evil as one of the conditions of the imperfect state of
human nature, where there is no good without the mixture of
some evil. At the same time, it is undoubtedly our duty to guard
against abuses as much as possible.” – Iredell

Q-A: Human Propensity is to expand Power

“From the nature of man, we may be sure that those who have
power in their hands will not give it up, while they can retain
it. On the contrary, we know that they will always, when they
can, rather increase it.”
- George Mason, speaking at the Philadelphia Convention.

Political Spectrum
- What is left? What is right?
- Communism on the left, Fascism on the right, as
in opposition one to the other. Are they really
different things & opposing?
- People and parties are often called leftist or
rightist. Origin?

Political Spectrum

Government is defined in the dictionary, as “a system of ruling or controlling”,
and therefore, the FOUNDING FATHERS measures political system in terms of the
amount of coercive power or systematic control exercised over its people.
In other words, not political PARTIES, but political POWER.

Political Spectrum
The FOUNDING FATHERS considered the two extremes to be
Anarchy and Tyranny. No government, no law while at the
other, too much control, too much political oppression, too
much government.

• The objective: to find the balanced center.

Hamilton refers to the “sensations of horror
and disgust” which arise when studying the
histories of those nations that are always “in a
state of perpetual vibration between the
extremes of tyranny and anarchy”

• The constitution was based on (among many other
things) lessons learned from People’s Law under
Israelites, on aspects of the Anglo-Saxon culture.
• Another point from Anglo-Saxon culture: striving for
Consensus – the founders were most anxious to get
general agreement whenever possible, rather than a
majority vote. In the Anglo-Saxon meetings, the
freemen did not take a vote, but kept “talking it out”
until everyone or practically everyone felt satisfied.

• Trivia: the head of 1,000 families was called the eolderman,
later shortened to earl. The territory occupied by 1,000
families was called a shire, and the administrative assistant to
the earl was called …the “shire reef”. We pronounce it sheriff.

The Three Headed Eagle
or the Horizontal Separation of Powers

Horizontal Separation of Powers
• The three heads of the eagle represent the three branches
of our government. From left to right:

• Executive - the administrative or
executive department with all
authority centered in a single, strong
President, operating within a clearly
defined framework of limited power.
• Legislative (House and Senate) must
both see eye-to eye on any legislation
before becomes law.
• Judicial – had the task of acting as
guardian of the C and the
interpretation of its principles as
originally designed by the Founders.

• The two wings represent the two ways of approaching problems: What
needs to be done? What does the government have the authority to do?

•One wing is the problem solving wing of our
government or the wing of compassion. It is
sensitive to the unfulfilled needs of the people.
The problem solving contingency within our
government are the big thinkers who produce
elaborate plans to solve problems.
•The other wing is the conservation wing of our
government with the responsibility of conserving
the nation’s resources and the people’s freedom.
The conservative contingency poses two
questions in relation to the first groups proposed
solutions:
– Can we afford it?
– What will it do to the rights and individual freedom
of the people?

• If both of these wings fulfill their assigned function, the American Eagle will
fly straight and higher than any civilization in the history of the world. But it
either of these wings goes to sleep on the job, the Eagle will drift toward
anarchy or tyranny.

• If wing #1 becomes infatuated with the idea of solving all the problems of
the nation regardless of the cost, and wing #2 fails to sober the problem-
solvers with a more realistic approach, the eagle will spin off toward that
side, and liberty is gradually given over to a tyrant.

• On the other hand, if wing #1 fails to see the problems which need solving
and wing #2 becomes inflexible in its course of not solving problems simply
to save money, or not disturb the status quo, then it sterilizes the
government and the government is in danger of losing authority, people
decide to take matters in their own hands and anarchy results.

Importance of maintaining the separation of power:

• “[…] no country ever did, or ever can, long remain free, where they
[powers] are blended” – Dawson
• “If the three powers maintain their mutual independence of each
other, our government may last long; but not so if either can
assume the authorities of the other” – Jefferson
• Don’t allow power to concentrate in Washington: “When all
government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall
be drawn to Washington as the center of power, it will render
powerless the checks provided of one government on another and
will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which
we separated” - Jefferson

Vertical separation of powers
• The purpose of the Founders was to assign to each level of
government that service which it could perform the most
efficiently and the most economically.
• There was a remarkable rationale behind the whole system. It
went back to the "ancient principles."
• The vertical separation of powers among the states might be
graphically portrayed as a pyramid with most of the power,
authority, and government being at the wide bottom where the
people are. As you ascend up the pyramid of government
through the levels of families, communities, counties, states,
and eventually the federal government, the areas of
responsibility and authority get narrower and narrower, or in
other words much more limited in scope.
• The idea was to keep the government decentralized into
many strong local self-governments.

Assign Each Level of Government That Which It Does Best

• The Founders emphasized repeatedly that the design of the
Constitution was to distribute the authority of governmental service
to that level where a particular function could be the most efficiently
administered and at the least expense.

"The way to have good and safe government is not to trust it all to one, but to
divide it among the many, distributing to everyone exactly the functions he is
competent to. Let the national government be entrusted with the defense of the
nation, and its foreign and federal relations; the state governments with the civil
rights, laws, police, and administration of what concerns the state generally; the
counties with the local concerns of the counties; and each ward direct the
interests within itself. It is by dividing and subdividing these republics from the
great national one down through all its subordinations until it ends in the
administration of every man's farm by himself, by placing under everyone what
his own eye may superintend, that all will be done for the best.“ - Thomas
Jefferson

Assign Each Level of Government That Which It Does Best

"It is not by the consolidation or concentration of powers,
but by their distribution that good government is
effected. Were not this great country already divided into
states, that division must be made, that each might do for
itself what concerns itself directly, and what it can so
much better do than a distant authority. Every state again
is divided into counties, each to take care of what lies
within its local bounds; each county again into townships
or wards, to manage minuter details; and every ward into
farms, to be governed each by its individual proprietor....
It is by this partition of cares, descending in gradation
from general to particular, that the mass of human affairs
may be best managed for the good and prosperity of all."

The Individual

The Founders perceived "the people" as individuals with the
unalienable right to exercise their free agency in governing their
own affairs so long as it did not impose on the rights of others.
They felt the individual has both the right and the responsibility
to solve most of the problems relating to work, play,
associations, creature comforts, education, acquisition and
disposition of property, and the effort needed to make a person
self-sustaining.
As a member of society, the individual has a right to a voice and
a vote.
He or she has an inherent right to enjoy all of the general
privileges and prerogatives enjoyed by the other members of
society.

The Family

• On the second level is the family, which the Founders
considered to be the most important unit of organized
society. It is within the family circle that individuals tend
to find greater satisfaction and self-realization than in
any other segment of the community, state, or nation.
• The family is granted exclusive and sovereign rights which
cannot be invaded by any other branch of government
unless:
– There is evidence of extended and extreme neglect of children.
– There is evidence of criminal abuse.
– The family residence is being used for criminal purposes.

The Family

• At the same time the family has inescapable
responsibilities. Parents are responsible for the conduct
of their children, the education of their children, the
religious training of their children, and the responsibility
of raising children to be morally competent, self-
sustaining adults.
• Social workers and state officials may not agree with the
religious training, choice of schools, philosophy of child-
rearing, or other details in the life of a family, but the
doctrine of parens patriae (the right of the state to
intervene) does not arise unless one or more of the
above situations is present.

The Community

• There are a number of things which a community of
families can do better than an individual family. This
is the basis for the corporate community.
– It has the responsibility to provide roads, schools, water,
police protection, city courts to handle misdemeanors, etc.
It also has the power to tax for the purpose of providing
these specific services.

The County

• There are a number of activities which a group of communities can
handle collectively with more efficiency than as individual
communities.
• These include:
– the prosecution of serious crimes or minor crimes in the rural area,
– the providing of a secure long-term county jail (for prisoners serving less
than a year);
– providing county roads, bridges, and drainage systems; providing rural
schools, rural police services;
– levying and collecting taxes based on the assessed value of property;
– issuing licenses for fishing and hunting as well as marriages;
– keeping records of deeds, births, deaths, and marriages;
– conducting elections,
– caring for the needy, and
– protecting public health.

The State

• The state is the sovereign entity of a specified region which can
function more effectively for all of the communities, counties, and
people of the state than they could do for themselves.
• The state has the authority to
– tax,
– regulate commerce,
– establish courts,
– define crime and prescribe punishment,
– establish and maintain public schools,
– build roads and bridges, and
– supervise intrastate waterways.
• The state can also pass laws to protect the health, safety, and
morals of its people. Moral problems include such matters as liquor,
gambling, drugs, and prostitution.

The State

• Sir William Blackstone describes the distinction between
private and public morals. He says:

"No matter how abandoned may be a man's principles, or
how vicious his practice, provided he keeps his wickedness to
himself, and does not violate public decency, he is out of the
reach of human laws. But if he makes his vices public, then
they become by his bad example, of pernicious effect to
society, and it is the business of human laws to correct them."

The State

The Founders set up the states so that they
were a projection of the will of the people, not
an auxiliary branch of the national
government.
In their area of assigned responsibilities, their
power was plenary, sovereign, and exclusive.
In a very narrow area there was joint
responsibility with the federal government.

The importance of state, strong local self-government to
guard against corruption

“The article, nearest my heart, is the division of counties into wards. These
will be pure and elementary republics, the sum of all which, taken together,
composes the State, and will make of the whole a true democracy as to the
business of the wards, which is that of nearest and daily concern. The affairs
of the larger sections, of counties, of States, and of the Union, not admitting
personal transactions by the people, will be delegated to agents elected by
themselves; and representation will thus be substituted, where personal
action becomes impracticable. Yet, even over these representative organs,
should they become corrupt and perverted, the division into wards
constituting the people, in their wards, a regularly organized power, enables
them by that organization to crush, regularly and peaceably, the usurpations
of their unfaithful agents, and rescues them from the dreadful necessity of
doing it insurrectionally. In this way we shall be as republican as a large
society can be; and secure the continuance of purity in our government, by
the salutary, peaceable, and regular control of the people.” - Jefferson


• From this it can be seen that the Founders did
not perceived the states to be administrative
department of the national government.
• They looked upon the states as exclusively
assigned to handle certain internal matters
which were no business whatever of the federal
government.
• On the other hand, they felt there were certain
powers which should be preempted to the
national government and that in those areas
the states should not be allowed to interfere.

Warnings against temptations
• Note: the FOUNDING FATHERS warn against the drift towards
Collectivist Left – They warned against a number of
temptations which might lure subsequent generations to
abandon their freedoms and their rights by subjecting
themselves to a strong federal administration operating on
the Collectivist Left.
• They warned against the “welfare state” where the
government endeavors to take care of everyone from the
cradle to the grave:
“If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of
the people, under the pretense of taking care of them, they
must become happy.” – Thomas Jefferson.
• They warned against confiscatory taxation and deficit
spending.


• They considered immoral for one generation to pass
on the results of its extravagance in the form of
debts to the next generation:

“we shall all consider ourselves unauthorized to saddle
posterity with our debts, and morally bound to pay
them ourselves […] within what may be deemed the
period of a generation, or the life expectancy of the
majority.”

• They considered immoral for one generation to pass on
the results of its extravagance in the form of debts to the
next generation:
“we shall all consider ourselves unauthorized to saddle
posterity with our debts, and morally bound to pay them
ourselves […] within what may be deemed the period of a
generation, or the life expectancy of the majority.”
• They also warned that the only way for the nation to
prosper was to have equal protection of “rights” and not
allow the government to get involved in trying to provide
equal distribution of “things”
• Against pooling of property as advocated by the
proponents of communism (tried to make it
unconstitutional).

• Campaigned for a strong program of widespread education, for an
“enlightened electorate”:

“On the people, therefore, of the US, it depends whether wise men,
or fools, good or bad men, shall govern…Therefore, I will now lift up
my voice and cry aloud to the people: From year to year be careful in
the choice of your representatives, and all the higher powers of
government. Fix your eyes upon men of good understanding, and
known honesty; men of knowledge, improved by experience; men who
fear God, and hate covetousness; who love truth and righteousness,
and sincerely wish the public welfare. … Let not men openly irreligious
and immoral become your legislators; … If the legislative body are
corrupt, you will soon have bad men for counselors, corrupt judges,
unqualified justices, and officers in every department who will
dishonor their stations; … Never give countenance to turbulent men,
who wish to distinguish themselves, and rise to power, by forming
combinations and exciting insurrections against government. I call
upon you also to support schools in all your towns, ... It is a debt you
owe to your children.” – Samuel Langdon, 1788


The corollary to this primary principle was the
obvious barn that this American type of
government would not function efficiently, and
perhaps might not even survive, if the PEOPLE
did not maintain a constant vigilance and
thereby develop what Jefferson called an
intelligent and informed electorate.


The Founders continually emphasized the aspect of
constitutional government in a free society.

“only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As
nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more
need of masters.” - Benjamin Franklin


The problem with freedom is that few people want to
participate in the governing process. It is tedious, painful
, aggravating and frustrating chore. Only when each
citizen shoulders his share of the task is the burden of
government endurable. However, unless the people have
been educated to take their part, they instinctively shrug
it off and say “Let Costin do it”.

“A just and solid republican government maintained here, will
be a standing monument and example for the aim and
imitation of the people of other countries[…] What a
satisfaction have we in the contemplation of the benevolent
effects of our efforts, compared with those of the leaders of
the other side […] who have endeavored to persuade us that
men cannot be governed but by the rod.” -Thomas Jefferson


They warned about the cause and consequences
of inflation:
“A theft of greater magnitude and still more
ruinous, is the making of paper money; it is greater,
because in this money there is absolutely no real
value; it is more ruinous, because, by its gradual
depreciation during all the time of its existence, it
produces the effect which would be produced by an
infinity of successive deteriorations of the coins. All
these iniquities are founded on the false idea, that
money is but a sign." – Count Destutt Tracy

Sound government should be based on self-
evident truths.
There truths should be so obvious, so rational, and
so morally sound that their authenticity is beyond
reasonable dispute.

THE 28 FREEDOM PRINCIPLES.
(Anti-tyranny)

1st Principle: The only reliable basis for sound government
and just human relations is Natural Law .
• [To Cicero] The building of a society on principles of Natural
Law was nothing more nor less than recognizing and identifying
the rules of “right conduct” with the laws of the Supreme Creator
of the universe.
• A fundamental presupposition of Natural Law is that man’s
reasoning power is a special dispensation of the Creator and is
closely akin to the rational or reasoning power of the Creator
himself. In other words, man shares with his Creator this quality
of utilizing a rational approach to solving problems, and the
reasoning of the mind will generally lead to common-sense
conclusions based on (what Jefferson called) “the laws of Nature
and of Nature’s God”.

1st Principle: The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is Natural Law .
True law:
• is right reason in agreement with nature;
• it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting;
• it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrongdoing
by its prohibitions;
• it is a sin to try to alter this law, nor is it allowable to repeal any part
of it, and it is impossible to abolish it entirely;
• we cannot be freed from its obligations by senate or people, and
we need not look outside ourselves for an expounder or interpreter
of it;
• it is eternal in its basic goodness; it is universal in its application;
• it is basic in its principles, comprehensible to the human mind, and
totally correct and morally right in its general application;
• when perfectly understood is called “wisdom”; when applied by
government in regulating human relations it is called “justice”.

1st Principle: The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is Natural Law .
Examples of Natural Law:

• Unalienable rights
• Unalienable duties
• The concept of habeas corpus
• The concept of Limited government, Separation of Powers,
Checks and Balances
• The right to Self-Preservation
• The right to Contract
• Laws protecting the Family
• The concept of Justice by Reparation
• The right to bear arms
• The principle of No taxation without representation

2nd Principle: A free people cannot survive under a republican
.
constitution unless they remain virtuous and morally strong

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.
As nations become corrupt and vicious, they
have more need of masters”
– (Smyth, Writing of Benjamin Franklin)

.

What is “Public Virtue”?

Morality is identified with the Ten
Commandments and obedience to the
Creator’s mandate for “right conduct”, but
the early Americans identified “public virtue”
as a very special quality of human
maturity in character and service.

.

James Madison said:
“Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a
wretched situation. No theoretical checks, no form of
government, can render us secure. To suppose that any
form of government will secure liberty or happiness
without any virtue by the people is a chimerical idea.
If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the
community, it will be exercised in the selection of these
men; so that we do not depend upon their virtue, or put
confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to
choose them.”

.

“Virtue is not hereditary.” – Jefferson

•Virtue has to be earned and it has to be learned.
•Neither is virtue a permanent quality in human
nature.
•It has to be cultivated permanently and exercised
continuous.
•The Founders looked to the home, the family, the
school and the churches to fuel the fires of virtue
from generation to generation.

3rd Principle: The most promising method of securing a virtuous and
morally stable people is to elect virtuous leaders.

The Founder recognized human nature for what it is
– a mixture of good and evil. They reasoned that a
political process should be developed through
which the wisest, the most experienced, and the
most virtuous can be precipitated to the surface
and elected to public office.

“If men were angels, no government would be
necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither
external nor internal control on government would
be necessary.” – Federalist papers no.51.


• They tried to make the public office an honor rather than a
position of profit.
• Franklin gave a discourse on the need to fix the course of
public service so that it would always attract men of public
virtue and repel scoundrels scrambling for a soft job:
“Sir, there are two passions which have a powerful
influence in the affairs of men. These are ambition and
avarice; the love of power and the love of money.
Separately, each of these has great force in prompting
men to action; but when united in view of the same
objects, they have in many minds the most violent
effects. Place before the eyes of such men a post of
honor, that shall at the same time be a place of profit,
and they will move heaven and earth to obtain it.


“And of what kind are the men that will strive for this
profitable preeminence, through all the bustle of cabal, the
heat of contention, the infinite mutual abuse of parties,
tearing to pieces the best of characters?
It will not be the wise and moderate, the lovers of peace
and good order, the men fittest for the trust.
It will be the bold and the violent, the men of strong
passions and indefatigable activity in their selfish pursuits.
These will thrust themselves into your government, and be
your rulers.” – Franklin

“Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member
of Congress; but I repeat myself.” - Mark Twain

4th Principle: Without religion the government of a free
people cannot be maintained.

“Article 3: Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary
to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools
and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”

“No religious reading, instruction or exercise shall be
prescribed or practiced inconsistent with the tenets of
any religious sect or denomination”. Obviously, under
such restrictions, the only religious tenets to be taught
in public schools would have to be those which were
universally accepted by all faiths and completely
fundamental to their premises. - Jefferson


Teaching three important subjects:
• Religion, which might be defined as a “fundamental system
of beliefs concerning man’s origin and relationship to the
cosmic universe as well as his relationship with his
fellowmen.”
• Morality, which may be described as “a standard of
behavior distinguishing right from wrong”.
• Knowledge, which is “an intellectual awareness and
understanding of established facts relating to any field of
human experience or inquiry (i.e. history, geography,
science, etc).
Founders envisioned the teaching of religion a unifying
cultural adhesive rather than a divisive apparatus.


• The group of basic beliefs which constitute “the
religion of America is the religion of all mankind”
(S. Adams)
• These fundamental beliefs belong to all world
faiths and could therefore be taught without
being offensive to any “sect or denomination”.
• The Founders wanted the Federal Government
excluded from all problems relating to Religion
and churches.
• The Supreme Court as well as Congress excluded
from jurisdiction over religion.


• De Tocqueville noted, in America, the clergy remains
politically separated from the government but nevertheless
provide a moral stability among the people which permits
the government to prosper. In other words, there is a
separation of church and state, but not a separation of
religion and state.

• De Tocqueville discovered that while clergymen felt it
would be demeaning to their profession to become
involved in partisan politics, they nevertheless believed
implicitly in their duty to keep religious principles and
moral values flowing out to the people as the best
safeguard for America’s freedom and political security.


“America is great because she is good and if
America ever ceases to be good, America will
cease to be great”.

5th Principle: All Things were created by God,
Therefore upon him all mankind are equally
dependent, and to him they are equally responsible

6th Principle: All men are equal.

Yet everyone knows that no two human beings are
exactly alike in any respect. They are different when
they are born. They plainly exhibit different natural
skills. They acquire different tastes. They develop
along different lines. They vary in physical strength,
mental capacity, emotional stability, inherited social
status, in their opportunities for self-fulfillment, and
in scores of other ways.
Then how can they be equal?


They can only be treated as equals in the sight of God, in
the sight of the law, and in the protection of their rights.

“That all men are born to equal rights is true. Every
being has a right to his own, as clear, as moral, as
sacred, as any other being has. But to teach that all men
are born with equal powers and faculties, to equal
influence in society, to equal property and advantages
through life, is as gross a fraud, a glaring imposition on
the credulity of the people.” – John Adams.


Nevertheless, there are some who insist that
people do not have equal rights unless they
have “equal things”.

The Founding Fathers were well acquainted with
this and set forth their belief in the next
principle.

7th Principle: The proper role of government is to protect
equal rights, not to provide equal things.

• In Europe, it was very popular to proclaim that
the role of government was to take from the
“haves” and give to the “have nots” so that all
might be truly “equal”.

• So, what powers can be assigned to government?
The Founders recognized that the people cannot
delegate to their government the power to do
anything except that which they have the lawful
right to do themselves.

7th Principle: The proper role of government is to protect
equal rights, not to provide equal things.

1. Do not help the needy completely. Merely help them to help
themselves.
2. Give the poor the satisfaction of “earned achievement” instead of
rewarding them without achievement.
3. Allow the poor to climb the “appreciation ladder”–from tents to
cabins, cabins to cottages, cottages to comfortable houses.
4. Where emergency help is provided, do not prolong it to the point
where it becomes habitual.
5. Strictly enforce the scale of “fixed responsibility”. The first and
foremost level of responsibility is with the individual himself; the
second level is the family; then the church; next the community; finally
the county, and in a disaster or emergency, the state.
• Under no circumstances is the federal government to become
involved in public welfare. The Founders felt it would corrupt the
government and also the poor.

8th Principle: Men are endowed by their creator with
Certain Unalienable rights.

• The Founders did not believe that the basic rights
of mankind originated from any social compact,
king, emperor or governmental authority.
• These great natural rights can be reduced to
three principal articles:
– The right of personal security
– The right of personal liberty
– The right of private property
• Property rights essential to the pursuit of
happiness

9th Principle: To protect man’s rights, God has revealed
certain principles of divine law.

10th Principle: The [God-given] right to govern is vested in
the sovereign authority of the whole people.
• FF subscribed to the concept that rulers are servants of
the people and all sovereign authority to appoint or
remove a ruler rests with the people.
“It is a maxim that in every government, there must exist,
somewhere, a supreme, sovereign, absolute, and
uncontrollable power;
but this power resides always in the BODY OF THE
PEOPLE; and it never was, or can be, delegated to one
man, or a few; [the great Creator] has never given to
men a right to vest others with authority over them,
unlimited either in duration or degree.” – Hamilton Albert.

11th Principle: The majority of people may alter or
abolish a government which has become tyrannical.

• Power rests in the majority
• No right of revolt in a minority

12th Principle: The United States of America shall be
a republic.

A “constitutional republic”, where certain
amount of power was delegated to the states
and a certain amount was delegated to the
national government.
All other power was retained by the people.

12th Principle: The United States of America shall be a republic.


• Theoretically, a democracy requires the full participation of
the masses of the people in the legislative or decision-
making processes of government. This has never worked
because the people become so occupied with their daily
tasks that they will not properly study the issues, nor will
they take the time to participate in extensive hearings
before the vote is taken.
• The Greeks tried to use democratic mass-participation in
the government of their city-states, and each time it ended
in tyranny.
• A democracy becomes increasingly unwieldy and inefficient
as the population grows. A republic, on the other hand,
governs through elected representatives and can be
expanded indefinitely


DEMOCRACY
• A government of the masses.
• Authority derived through mass meetings or any other
form of direct expression.
• Results in mobocracy.
• Attitude towards property is communistic - negative
property rights.
• Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall
regulate, whether it is based upon deliberation or
governed by passion, prejudice and impulse, without
restraint or regard to consequences.
• It results in demagogism, license, agitation, discontent,
anarchy."


REPUBLIC
• Authority is derived through the election by the people of
public officials best fitted to represent them.
• Attitude toward property is respect for laws and individual
rights, and a sensible economic procedure.
• Attitude toward law is the administration of justice in
accord with fixed principles and established evidence, with
a strict regard to consequences.
• A greater number of citizens and extent of territory may be
brought within its compass.
• Avoids the dangerous extreme of either tyranny or
mobocracy.
• Results in statesmanship, liberty, reason, justice,
contentment, and progress.

13th Principle: A constitution should be structured
to permanently protect the people from the human
frailties of their rulers.

14th Principle: Life and Liberty are secure only so
long as the right to Property is secure.

• Primary purpose of government is to protect
property
• Property rights are essential to liberty.

15th Principle: The highest level of prosperity
occurs when there is a free market economy and a
minimum of government regulations.
• In a free society which has no rigid class structure, the
free market system doesn’t work efficiently unless the
constitutional structure of a nation provides and
perpetuates 4 fundamental economic freedoms:
1. Freedom to try.
2. Freedom to buy.
3. Freedom to sell.
4. Freedom to fail.
• This simply emphasizes that the greatest enemy of a
free-market economy is illegitimate governmental
intervention.

15th Principle: The highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a
free market economy and a minimum of government regulations.

There are 4 situations where is legitimate:
1. To prevent force (criminal invasion of the market).
2. To prevent fraud (invasion of the market with
deceptive trickery)
3. To prevent monopoly (destruction of competitive
free trade)
4. To prevent debauchery.


A profit is whatever is necessary to make it worthwhile
for someone to provide the public with a product and a
service. This is the key to success under the free market
system. A corollary to this is:”No profit, no product.”
• Is some regulation of the economy desirable?
• Is Bigness bad?
• When is rich too rich? …freedom to prosper.
• Are there too many varieties of individual products?

In some instances, governmental involvement is justified.
However, there should be only minimal involvement.
FOUNDING FATHERS said:
“He governs best who governs least.”

Concern for the poor and needy
• Nevertheless, the Founders recognized that it is a mandate of God to help the
poor and underprivileged. It is interesting how they said this should be done:

1. Do not completely care for the needy–merely help them to help themselves.
2. Give the poor the satisfaction of “earned achievement” instead of rewarding
them without achievement.
3. Allow the poor to climb the “appreciation ladder”–from tents to cabins, cabins to
cottages, cottages to comfortable houses.
4. Where emergency help is provided, do not prolong it to the point where it
becomes habitual.
5. Strictly enforce the scale of “fixed responsibility.” The first and foremost level of
responsibility is with the individual himself; the second level is the family; then
the church; next the community; finally the county, and, in a disaster or
emergency, the state.
6. Under no circumstances was the federal government to become involved in
public welfare. The Founders felt it would corrupt the government and also the
poor. No constitutional authority exists for the federal government to participate
in so-called social welfare programs. (Making of America p 218-220)

Concern for the poor and needy
• The U. S. Constitution states in Article I, section 8:

The people of the states empower the Congress to expend money (for the
enumerated purposes listed in Article I, section 8), provided it is done
in a way that benefits the general welfare of the whole people.

Thomas Jefferson explained that this clause was not a grant of power to
“spend” for the general welfare of the people, but was intended to
“limit the power of taxation” to matters which provided for the welfare
of “the Union ” or the welfare of the whole nation.

• The Court unlawfully laid the foundation for what turned out to be an amendment to the
Constitution in the 1936 Butler case, where “general welfare” was twisted to allow “special
welfare”, and the federal budget jumped from six billion to six hundred billion in one
generation. (Making of America p 255) Should the Federal Government be involved in Social
Welfare, you be the judge.

16th Principle: The government should be separated into
three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.

17th Principle:. A system of checks and balances should
be adopted to prevent the abuse of power.

18th Principle:. The Unalienable Rights from the people
are most likely to be preserved if the principles of
government are set forth in a written constitution.
regulations.

19th Principle: Only limited and carefully defined
powers should be delegated to government, all
others being retained in the people .
• No principle was emphasized more vigorously
during the Constitutional Convention than the
necessity of limiting the authority of the
federal government (10th Amendment).
• Not only was this to be done by carefully
defining the powers delegated to the
government, but the Founders were
determined to bind down its administrators
with legal chains codified in the Constitution.

20th Principle: Efficiency and dispatch require government
to operate according to the will of the majority, but
constitutional provisions must be made to protect the rights
of the minority.
21st Principle: Strong local self-government is the keystone
to preserving human freedom.
22nd Principle: A free people should be governed by law
and not the whims of men.
23th Principle: A free society cannot survive as a republic
without a broad program of general education.
24th Principle: A free people will not survive unless they
stay strong.
25th Principle: "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship
with all nations: entangling alliances with none."

26th Principle: The core unit which determines the strength
of any society is the family; therefore, the government
should foster and protect its integrity.

27th Principle: The burden of debt is as destructive
to freedom as subjugation by conquest.

• Slavery or involuntary servitude is the result of either
subjugation by conquest or succumbing to the bondage of
debt.
• Debt, of course, is simply borrowing against the future. It
exchanges a present advantage for a future obligation. It
will require not only the return of the original advance of
funds, but a substantial compensation to the creditor for
the use of his money.
• FF knew that borrowing can be a honorable procedure in
time of crisis, but they deplored it just the same.
• They looked upon it as a temporarily handicap which
should be alleviated at the earliest possible moment.

28th Principle: The United States has a manifest destiny to
be an example and a blessing to the entire human race.

The Bill of Rights
• The first feature of the Bill of Rights is the
rather amazing fact that it is not a declaration of
rights at all – It is a declaration of prohibitions
against the federal government.

• In the mind of the Founders, usurpation and
intervention by the federal government in the
affairs of he states and the people were the
most ominous threats to the happiness and
welfare of the American Society.

The Bill of Rights

• The second unique feature is the repeated declaration
that the Founders did not want to have the federal
government serve as a watchdog over the states
responsibility to protect the rights of the people. If a
state failed […] the Founders wanted the pressure to
build up, thus forcing correction within the confines of
the state without interference from the federal
government whatsoever.

• The Bill of Rights was never intended to be a list of
individual rights, but a list of things the federal
government could not do to the states.

The Bill of Rights
• The Preamble to the Bill of Rights says, in part:
"The Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of
their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent
misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and
restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of
public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent
ends of its institution... .“

• The "its" refers to the Constitution's powers, and "the Government"
refers to the Federal Government. In other words, the purpose of
the federal Bill of Rights is to clarify the limits of Federal
Government power. Its purpose is *not* to limit the state
governments' powers IN ANY WAY.
• And, the Founders were trying to help the courts avoid any
“misconstruction” and also add certain “restrictive clauses” to
prevent government arrogance and abuse.

1st Amendment

“ Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the
people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of grievances. ”

1st Amendment

• The First Amendment prohibits the federal government
from intermeddling in religious matters in any way. It is
not to take any positive action which would tend to create
or favor some “establishment of religion”, nor is it to
interfere or prohibit the free exercise of any religion.
• The individual state, however, has the responsibility to
see that laws and conditions are such that all religious
denominations or sects receive equal treatment.
• There should be a regularly established policy of
teaching the fundamentals of religion and morality in the
public schools.

1st Amendment

• Provision 216: The Congress shall make NO law abridging
the freedom of speech, or of the press.
This provision gave the American people the RIGHT to
have the federal government prohibited from exercising
any legal authority over the freedom of speech or the
freedom of the press.

• Provision 217: The Congress shall make NO law abridging
the right of the people to peaceably assemble.
It is a violation of the law to assemble for the purpose of
conspiring to commit a crime or to use violence in
overthrowing constituted authority. However, a peaceable
assembly for lawful discussion cannot be made a crime.

1st Amendment

• Provision 218: The Congress shall make NO law
abridging the right of the people to petition the
government for a redress of grievances.
1. By submitting a formal petition signed by numerous
supporters (probably the least effective).
2. A personal letter or telegram (more effective than many
citizens realize).
3. A personal contact (more effective, especially if it is done
by several people at the same time)
4. A paid lobbyist (often very effective).
5. Public demonstration (very effective, providing there is
no violence, which has a backslash effect which creates
hostile resistance).

2nd Amendment
• Provision 219: Because a well-regulated state militia is
necessary for the security of a free people, the right of the
people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed by the
federal government.

Many Americans do not even realize that they belong to the
militia of their state. They confuse their state militia with the
National Guard, which is a specialized reserve corps in each
state trained at the federal expense for immediate service.
Under Title 10, section 31 of the US Code, the militia of each
state includes” all able bodied males at least 17 years of age
and under 45 years of age who are or have made a declaration
of intent to become citizens.” [ + all females, with the Equal
Rights Amendment]

2nd Amendment

• The right to keep and bear arms was considered by the
Founders to be an unalienable right connected with the
preservation of life liberty and prosperity.
• It is a historical fact that in nations where the political
leaders want to curtail the rights of the people and take
away their property and freedom, they always begin by
trying to disarm them. This is usually done by first requiring
them to register their firearms and imposing a heavy
penalty on those who do not. It has determined that in
many instances the next step is to deliberately provoke
widespread rioting and violence. The government can then
use this as an excuse to confiscate all firearms in the
possession of private citizens and do it on the grounds that
“we have to somehow stop all this killing.”

2nd Amendment
The clear intent of the Second Amendment in the
commentaries of the Founders:

“To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole
body of people always posses arms, and be
taught alike, especially when young, how to use
them.” - Lee
“Every man be armed…Everyone who is able may
have a gun” - Henry
”The said Constitution shall never be construed to
authorize Congress to …prevent the people of
the United States who are peaceable citizens
from keeping their own arms.” - S. Adams

2nd Amendment
• The Senate in the process (of adopting) indicated its
intent that the right be an individual one, for private
purposes, by rejecting an amendment which would
have limited the keeping and bearing of arms to
bearing “for common defense”.

• If this was not an “individual right”, there would be no
reason for it to be inserted in state constitutions. State
bills of rights necessarily protect only against action by
the state, and by definition a state cannot infringe on
its own rights; to attempt to protect a right belonging
to the state by inserting it in a limitation of the state’s
own powers would create an absurdity.

4th Amendment
• Provision 221: The right of the people to be secure in
their persons, houses, papers, and effects shall not be
violated.
• Provision 222: The right of the people to be protected
against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not
be violated. (sixteenth Amendment eroded this).
• Provision 223: No warrant shall be issued by the
courts unless it is based on probable cause, supported
by an oath or affirmation, and describes the particularity
of the place to be searched and the person or things to
be seized.

5th Amendment
• Provision 224: No person shall be required to answer to a capital or
infamous crime unless the charges have been formally stated in a
presentment or an indictment by a grand jury.

• This provision gives the accused a number of advantages:
– It protects him from the reckless accusation of malevolent individuals
who know they can greatly damage the reputation of an individual
simply by making the charge of some heinous offense against him.
– By forcing the prosecutor and the witness to screen the facts through
the grand jury, many groundless and seriously damaging rumors have
been exposed and dismissed before they were given extensive
publicity.
– The formality of a grand jury hearing also compels the prosecutor to
pinpoint the charges and demonstrate that he has witnesses and
tangible evidence sufficiently conclusive to warrant a trial.

5th Amendment

• Provision 226: No person shall be subject to
double jeopardy for the same offense.
– Note: not applicable when the jury fails to agree, or if
convicted but reversed because of technicality by a
higher court – another trial by another jury.
• Provision 227: No person shall be compelled in
any criminal case to be a witness against himself.
– Note: one can be compelled to answer if the statue of
limitations bars prosecution for the crime or have
been pardoned, since he cannot be prosecuted
anymore.

5th Amendment

• Provision 228: No person shall be deprived of life,
liberty, or property without due process of the law.

• Provision 229: No private property shall be taken for
public use without just compensation.
– Note: It is interesting that in 1923 a minimum wage law
which required an employer to pay a certain wage,
regardless of the earning ability of the employee, was held
to be unconstitutional under this provision, since it tool
private property for the public welfare in violation of this
clause. It was reversed in 1936 by the Supreme Court,
under the influence of New Deal policies.

6th Amendment
• Provision 230: In all criminal prosecutions, the
accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and
public trial.
– Note: The public trial is for the benefit of the accused
and not the public.
accused shall enjoy the right to have a trial before
an impartial jury in the state and district wherein
the crime shall have been committed.

6th Amendment

accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and
public trial.
– Note: The public trial is for the benefit of the accused
and not the public.

accused shall enjoy the right to have a trial before
an impartial jury in the state and district wherein
the crime shall have been committed.

6th Amendment
accused shall enjoy the right to have compulsory
process to obtain witness in his favor. – as in,
Constitution allows the defendant to use the
good offices of the court and the enforcement
machinery of a US marshal office to compel
witnesses to participate in a trial in his defense.

accused shall enjoy have the right to counsel to
assist him in his defense.

9th Amendment
• Provision 241: The enumeration of certain rights in this
Constitution shall not be interpreted to repudiate,
deny, or disparage other rights belonging to the
people, but which have not been enumerated.

Note: Framers of the Constitution feared that the
enumeration would never be complete and that
other rights might therefore be lost because they
were not included. This provision was designed
to be a catch-all clause to protect all other rights,
whether or not they had been mentioned in Bill
of Rights.

10th Amendment
• Provision 242: All powers not specifically
delegated to the Congress of the United
States by this Constitution, nor prohibited
to the states by this Constitution, are
reserved to the states or to the people.

Compare with the federal involvement in schools, roads,
housing, welfare, hospitals, banks, transportation,
communications, air, water, land, natural resources, and so
on.

12th Amendment
• Provision 244: Electors voting for the President
and the Vice President shall meet in their respective
states and shall vote on one ballot for President and
on a separate ballot for VP; […]
Note: This meant that if the electors voted 52 percent for one
candidate and only 48 percent for another, the entire vote of all
the electors of that state would go for the candidate represented
by the majority. This is what it means to have the votes taken
“by the states” with each state having “one vote”. This procedure
often gives a totally unbalanced picture of the election returns,
since a close vote may actually look like a landslide.

Congress, in its anxiety to codify freedom for every
person born under the protection of the United
States (and to liberate those who had been subjects
to involuntary servitude), undertook to pass three
amendments (13th, 14th and 15th) so that universal
freedom would be part of the Constitution.

Unfortunately, some aspects of their effort provided
more heat than light and still remain the cause of
much confusion and litigation – not only over the
issue of freedom, but because the 14th Amendment
has been used by the federal government to greatly
enlarge its jurisdiction over the states.

13th Amendment
• Provision 249: Neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude shall exist within the
United States nor any place subject to its
jurisdiction.

Trivia: In the history of US, not all the slaves have been
black. In the early settlements in America many of the
colonies had white slaves or persons who had been sold
into peonage. In fact, English felons were sold to the
colonists to work out their terms of imprisonment in
servitude.

14th Amendment
• Provision 254: No state shall deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property without due process of law. – simply a repetition
of what was already guaranteed in the 5th Amendment.
• Provision 255: No state shall deny to any person who lives
within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Note: this provision makes any prohibitions or mandatory laws aimed at
specific groups or classes unconstitutional.
Note: a far questionable ruling was the one upholding the
graduated (progressive) income tax. This ruling deprives a person
of a certain amount of his property rights just because he or she
has happened to accumulate enough property to put them in a
graduated income tax bracket. – see 16th Amendment.

Security versus Liberty
The condition of unending, perpetual war only
serves the purpose of lessening liberty.
"No nation could preserve its freedom in the
midst of continual warfare."
"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this
land, it will be in the guise of fighting a
foreign enemy."
"The means of defense against foreign
danger have been always the instruments
of tyranny at home.“
- Madison

Reject profoundly the satanic bargain that less
freedom equals more safety.

If we surrender our freedoms in order to defend
the nation, what would be left that is worth
defending?

When we show our government that we will not
protest its abuses of the natural law and will
allow it to trample our freedoms just because
there is a war being waged, we create an
incentive for the government to go to war.
Our complacency creates a perpetual cycle: The
government wages wars in our names, and we
relinquish more of our rights in the name of
safety.

A classic formulation of the argument against
freedom, the argument that security and stability
come at the expense of the laws and freedoms
that our Constitution was intended to guarantee.
Those frightened by war and conflict, the first to
succumb to the erosion of our freedoms, are
dead wrong.
When all of our liberties are gone, there will be
nothing left to protect.

Food for thought:
The move towards criminal acts of
omission (as opposed to criminal acts of
commission).

Further reading/instructions
• The National Center for Constitutional Studies - Principles of Liberty
With Dr. Earl Taylor, President NCCS WWW.NCCS.NET , Free Lessons: http://1elearn.com/nccs/

• Michael Badnarik ConstitutionClass

• What do you really know about US Constitution? How do you consider the Constitution - The
supreme law of the land or a living document, open to interpretation and voluntary to follow?
Regardless, listen to this audio-book for an eye opening education on the origins and reasons for
American Constitution: 03 - 5000 Year Leap (Center for Constitutional Studies). A bit too
religious, but it will help explain what we take for granted. And a bit difficult to follow on
“tape”, so feel free to get the printed book (The 5000 year leap : The 28 great ideas that changed
the world / W. Cleon Skousen. https://catalog.kcls.org/record=b2138166~S1)

• Get educated in American democracy by listening to Jon Stewart – 04 - America : a citizen's guide
to democracy inaction with a foreword by Thomas Jefferson / written and edited by Jon Stewart,
Ben Karlin, David Javerbaum. (https://catalog.kcls.org/record=b1426803~S1)

• Must see video: The American Form of Government
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DioQooFIcgE&feature=youtube_gdata

Further reading
• Get fired up by the departure from simple common sense by our government by
listening to 05- Glenn Beck's Common Sense [sound recording]: the case against
an out-of-control government, inspired by Thomas Paine / [Glenn Beck]
(http://catalog.kcls.org/search/i=9780743599351). This book was co-authored with someone
else (so ignore the author name), as is a must read/listen.

• What do you think of empire-building, military-industrial union, corporate statism,
and foreign entanglement? Listen to this audio-book: 06 - The Revolution – A
manifesto (by Ron Paul) (http://catalog.kcls.org/search/i=9781600243554 )– for common sense
explanations and solutions.

• Do you consider yourself a conservative or a liberal? Do you really know what one
stands for compared with the other? You should read then - American
progressivism : a reader / edited and introduced by Ronald J. Pestritto and
William J. Atto (https://catalog.kcls.org/record=b2284939~S1 ) – and see with which one you
want to align or be identified.

Further reading
• If you liked the 5000 Year leap and now understand what a good fundament America had, and want to know how
is getting eroded every day, then you need to read The Constitution in exile : how the federal government has
seized power by rewriting the supreme law - Andrew P. Napolitano
(https://catalog.kcls.org/record=b2025717~S1).

• Supplement The constitution in exile with the book Men in black (How the Supreme Court is destroying America)
- Mark K.Levin (http://catalog.kcls.org/search/i=0786178981%20:)

• Get an understanding from where Glenn Beck's Common Sense got its ideas by listening to 08 - Common Sense -
Thomas Paine

• Get an understanding of what history teaches us, cause we are doomed to repeat it otherwise – listen 09-The PIG
– Great Depression and the new Deal (http://catalog.kcls.org/search/i=9781433293573)

• To see how we slowly change into sheep, read A nation of sheep / by Andrew P. Napolitano.
(http://catalog.kcls.org/search/i=9781595550972)

• Interested in how our founding principles are being trampled upon by judges, politicians, bureaucrats,
prosecutors, and police in the name of the law? Napolitano shows how in Constitutional chaos : what happens
when the government breaks its own laws / Andrew P. Napolitano.(http://catalog.kcls.org/search/i=0785260838 )

Further reading
• Other recommended reading:
• End the Fed by Ron Paul
• The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich A. Hayek Crash
Proof 2.0 by Peter Schiff
• The Case Against the Fed by Murray N. Rothbard
• America’s Great Depression by Murray N.
Rothbard
• Economics in One Easy Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
(http://www.scribd.com/doc/6249655/Hazlitt-Economics-in-One-Lesson)
• The Gold Standard by Lew Rockwell

“Ignorance will provide no protection, however, and
those who do not understand will pay a high price
for their prolonged denial.” - Unknown -

“The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-
administered by its victims.
The most perfect slaves are, therefore, those which
blissfully and unawaredly enslave themselves.” - Unknown -

“When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold
gradually to the masses over generations, the truth
will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a
raving lunatic.”
- Unknown

"Educate and inform the whole mass of the
people... They are the only sure reliance for the
preservation of our liberty.“ —Thomas Jefferson

Constitution class slideshow

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked (15)

Similar to Constitution class slideshow (20)

More from Forward15 (7)

Constitution class slideshow

Editor's Notes