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Alexander Hamilton (1757–1804)

n a government framed for durable liberty, no less regard must be paid to giving the Imagistrate a proper degree of authority, to make and execute the laws with vigour than to guarding against encroachments upon the rights of the community. As too much power leads to despotism, too little leads to anarchy, and both eventually to the ruin of the people. —Alexander Hamilton, 1781

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Introduction Alexander Hamilton is perhaps the most misunderstood and under-appreciated of the Founders. A proponent of a strong national government with an “energetic executive,” he is sometimes described as the godfather of modern big government. But Hamilton was no less a champion of human liberty than his more famous political rival and American icon, Thomas Jefferson. And his personal story is impressive. Born in the West Indies, the illegitimate son of a Scottish merchant, young Hamilton seemed condemned to a life of hardship on the lowest rung of society. But his intellectual talents won him passage to the American colonies on the eve of the Revolution. Though still a teenager in 1775, Hamilton made a name for himself as a spokesman for the Patriot cause. After American independence, Hamilton worked to strengthen the national government as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and later in The Federalist Papers. As secretary of the treasury in the Washington Administration, Hamilton endeavored to promote an industrial, market economy throughout the United States of America. Though his plan was not fully implemented in his lifetime, Hamilton’s ideas became the foundation of the American financial and economic system that would take shape during the mid- and late- nineteenth century. While acting as the defense lawyer in a New York trial of 1803, Hamilton expanded the idea of freedom of the press by arguing that truth could be used as a defense in criminal libel cases. Though he lost the case, New York subsequently changed its libel laws, accepting Hamilton’s argument. A year after the trial, Hamilton was killed by Aaron Burr in a duel, cutting short the life of a significant Founder.

Relevant Thematic Essays for Alexander Hamilton • Limited Government • Liberty • Commerce (Volume 1)

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In His Own Words: Alexander Hamilton

ON THE CONSTITUTION

Overview In this lesson, students will learn about Alexander Hamilton. They should first read as homework Standards Handout A—Alexander Hamilton (1757–1804) and CCE (9–12): IC1, IC3, IIIA1, IIIA2 answer the Reading Comprehension Questions. After NCHS (5–12): Era III, Standards 3A, discussing the answers in class, the teacher should have 3B, 3D students answer the Critical Thinking Questions as a NCSS: Strands 2, 5, 6, and 10 class. Next, the teacher should introduce the primary Materials source activity, Handout C—In His Own Words: Student Handouts Alexander Hamilton on the Constitution in which • Handout A—Alexander Hamilton Hamilton argues for an energetic executive. As a preface, (1757–1804) there is Handout B—Vocabulary and Context Questions, • Handout B—Vocabulary and which will help the students understand the document. Context Questions Then, working in pairs or trios, they will complete • Handout C—In His Own Words: Handout D—Outline of Federalist No. 70 by paraphrasing Alexander Hamilton on the the main ideas and supports of Hamilton’s argument. Constitution There is a Follow-Up Homework Option, which • Handout D—Outline of Federalist asks students to create a dialogue between Hamilton and No. 70 someone who disagrees with him about a strong executive Additional Teacher Resource branch. Extensions asks students to explain how they • Answer Key believe Hamilton would view modern additions to the Recommended Time executive branch such as the FBI or the Department of One 45-minute class period. Education, or to read and analyze one of Hamilton’s letters Additional time as needed for to his wife about his upcoming duel with Aaron Burr. homework. Objectives Students will: • explain Hamilton’s reasoning in support of a single and powerful executive leader. • understand Hamilton’s role at the Constitutional Convention. • understand the historical context and purpose of The Federalist Papers. • analyze Federalist and Anti-Federalist views about the nature of the executive branch. • evaluate the effectiveness of Hamilton’s arguments in excerpts from Federalist No. 70. • appreciate the role Hamilton played in shaping the new United States government. Alexander Hamilton 08 050-061 Found2 Hamilton 9/13/07 11:10 AM Page 52

LESSON PLAN

I. Background Homework Ask students to read Handout A—Alexander Hamilton (1757–1804) and answer the Reading Comprehension Questions.

II. Warm-Up [10 minutes] A. Review answers to homework questions. B. Conduct a whole-class discussion to answer the Critical Thinking Questions. C. Ask a student to summarize the historical significance of Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, a Federalist leader and co-author of The Federalist Papers. He served as secretary of the treasury under President George Washington and worked to establish a national economic system for America. Hamilton died at age forty-seven in a duel with his political rival, Aaron Burr.

III. Context [5 minutes] Briefly review with students the debate among Federalists and Anti-Federalists regarding the ratification of the Constitution. Federalists wanted a strong central government, while Anti-Federalists were concerned that the Constitution would create a president who was too powerful. Additionally, discuss the historical meaning of the word “energy” which was commonly used as a synonym for “strength” or “power.”

IV. In His Own Words [20 minutes] A. Begin by asking the class to consider how having a national executive council could be different from having one president. They may also consider: How would school be different if they had two principals? How do families with one parent differ from those with two? How could their home life be different if they had a council of parents? Students may suggest that having a council of leaders or parents decreases accountability, and that if no one person is responsible, there may be less efficiency. Some may point out that a team of executives may be better able to consider issues from broader perspectives. Others may say that having two or more executives may contribute to people taking sides, and the result being a divided nation. B. Distribute Handout B—Vocabulary and Context Questions and Handout C—In His Own Words: Alexander Hamilton on the Constitution. C. Ask students to read silently the excerpts from Federalist No. 70 and pay close attention to the main ideas of each paragraph in bold. D. Divide students into pairs or trios to complete Handout B and the outline on Handout D—Outline of Federalist No. 70. They should begin by filling in the main idea of each paragraph by paraphrasing it into their own words. E. Next, have each group paraphrase and fill in each of Hamilton’s supporting points for each paragraph. F. Fill in the outline as a class with an overhead of Handout D.

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LESSON PLAN

V. Wrap-Up Discussion [10 minutes] Ask students to evaluate the effectiveness of Hamilton’s argument in favor of a single executive. Did he argue persuasively? What were his strongest points? What were the shortcomings of his argument?

VI. Follow-Up Homework Options Have students write a dialogue between Hamilton and someone who disagrees with him. The two should discuss the question of which type of executive branch would better protect liberty: a single executive or an executive council.

VII. Extensions A. Have students examine the executive branch as it exists today. Have students write a two- to three-paragraph essay explaining how they believe Hamilton would view adding to the executive branch, for example, the FDA, the FBI, the Department of Education, or the Department of Homeland Security. Do these departments bolster or drain the energy of the executive? B. On July 4, 1804, Alexander Hamilton wrote to his wife about the upcoming duel with Aaron Burr. How does Hamilton feel about the “interview”? Why do you think he went ahead with the duel? “This letter, my very dear Eliza, will not be delivered to you, unless I shall first have terminated my earthly career; to begin, as I humbly hope from redeeming grace and divine mercy, a happy immortality....Ifit had been possible for me to have avoided the interview, my love for you and my precious children would have been alone a decise motive. But it was not possible, without sacrifices which would have rendered me unworthy ofyour esteem....” Source: “To Elizabeth Hamilton.”American Studies at the University of Virginia. . C. Have students research the details of the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, and report to the class about the Code Duelo.

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LESSON PLAN

Resources Print Brookhiser, Richard. Alexander Hamilton, American. New York: Free Press, 2000. Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: The Penguin Press, 2004. Ellis, Joseph. Founding Brothers. New York: Alfred Knopf, 2000. Freeman, Joanne B., ed. Hamilton: Writings. New York: Library of America, 2001. McDonald, Forrest. Alexander Hamilton: A Biography. New York: Norton, 1982.

Internet “Alexander Hamilton.” National Archives and Records Administration: The Founding Fathers. . “Alexander Hamilton, New York.” The United States Army. . “Alexander Hamilton on the Web.” . “The American Experience: The Duel.” PBS: The American Experience. . “A Biography of Alexander Hamilton.” From Revolution to Reconstruction. . “The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.” .

Selected Works by Alexander Hamilton • The Farmer Refuted (1775) • Continentalist Essays (1781) • The Federalist Papers [with James Madison and John Jay] (1787–1788) • Report on Public Credit (1790) • Report on Manufacturers (1791)

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Handout A

ALEXANDER HAMILTON (1757–1804)

Energy in the Executive is a leading character in the definition of good government. —Alexander Hamilton, 1788

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Alexander Hamilton never meant it to come to this. But there he stood in 1804 on a rock ledge, some ten feet wide and forty feet long, just below the plains of Weehawken, New Jersey. Twenty paces away stood Aaron Burr, Vice President of the United States and Hamilton’s political rival. Burr had taken exception to several unflattering remarks Hamilton had made about Burr’s character. When Hamilton refused to disavow the comments, Burr challenged him to a duel. Hamilton believed that honor required him to meet Burr for what the men called an “interview.” Now Hamilton raised his pistol and fired. Burr flinched as the bullet harmlessly struck a tree branch above his head. Burr paused and took careful aim at Hamilton. He squeezed the trigger of the pistol, a shot rang out, and Hamilton fell. He had been hit four inches above the hip. The bullet broke a rib and tore through his liver and diaphragm, finally lodging in his spine. A doctor who had been asked to be present at the duel rushed to Hamilton, who immediately told him, “This is a mortal wound, Doctor.” Hamilton was right. He died the next day. Background Alexander Hamilton was born in 1757 on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies. He was the illegitimate son of a poor Scottish merchant and a woman of French descent. Hamilton’s father deserted the family when Hamilton was a toddler. His mother died when he was eleven years old. Hamilton then became an apprentice clerk in a shipping business. His intelligence and ambition impressed a local businessman, who arranged to send the boy to America to receive a formal education. Hamilton attended a school in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. He completed the two- year course of study in less than a year. Hamilton next considered entering Princeton College in New Jersey. But the president of the college, John Witherspoon, would not agree to the gifted Hamilton’s request to study at his own pace. Hamilton instead chose King’s College in New York. He completed the four-year program in two-and-a-half years. But he never formally graduated. Political events distracted him. Young Patriot and Soldier At the age of seventeen, Hamilton became active in New York’s Patriot movement. He wrote two pamphlets and spoke at rallies denouncing British tyranny. After war broke out, Hamilton formed an artillery company. His unit was soon under the command of General George Washington. Washington asked him to join his personal staff and promoted the twenty-year-old to the rank of lieutenant colonel. An indispensible aide to General Washington, Hamilton did not return to a field command until 1781 during the Yorktown Campaign. Hamilton personally led a bayonet

© The Bill of Rights Institute attack against the British entrenchments. Americans won their War of Independence five days later.

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Handout A

Ambitious Statesman In 1780, Hamilton had married Elizabeth Schuyler, daughter of a wealthy and powerful New York family. Two years later, he was admitted to the bar after a mere three months of study of the law. In 1783, he was chosen to represent New York in the Confederation Congress. There he became an ally of Virginian James Madison, who shared Hamilton’s desire for a stronger central government. But frustration with other colleagues caused Hamilton to leave Congress in 1784. Hamilton became a leading critic of the Articles of Confederation during the 1780s. In 1787, Hamilton was appointed a member of the New York delegation to the Constitutional Convention.

Securing the Constitution Hamilton played a minor role in the debates at Philadelphia for two reasons. First, he was often absent from the proceedings because of legal business. Second, his extremely nationalist views caused many of his fellow delegates to discount his views. “The gentleman from New York,”summarized William Johnson of Connecticut, is “praised by everybody...[but] supported by none.”Hamilton in particular favored the creation of a strong executive branch headed by a single elected president who would serve for life. The Constitution produced by the Philadelphia convention greatly increased the power of the central government, though not as much as Hamilton had hoped. Nevertheless, he thought it far superior to the Articles of Confederation. Hamilton took the lead in the campaign for ratification in New York. He joined with Madison and John Jay in writing a series of essays during 1787–1788 supporting the Constitution. These essays, written anonymously under the name “Publius,” became known as The Federalist Papers. Hamilton wrote fifty-two of the eighty-five Federalist essays. They were soon published in book form and sold throughout the country. In The Federalist Papers, Hamilton made the case that “the vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty.” Brushing aside concerns about tyranny, Hamilton made the case for a strong executive branch. “Energy in the Executive,” Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 70, “is a leading character in the definition of good government.”

Economics and Politics Hamilton eagerly accepted the post of secretary of the treasury under President George Washington. He intended to use his position to build a national economic system for America. Hamilton believed that such a system would bind Americans together and create a strong nation. Hamilton pressed for the establishment of a national bank, funding of the national debt, and assumption of state war debts. He also favored a tax to protect manufacturing, and the creation of a standing army and navy. Hamilton wanted to change the basis of wealth in America from land to money. Money, he held, was the great equalizer. Anyone could acquire it and thereby advance up the economic and social ladder. Hamilton’s bold plan alarmed many who feared government power. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson became the leader of the opposition to Hamilton. The first American party system formed around these two men. The Federalists supported the Hamiltonian program. The Democratic-Republicans (or simply, Republicans) worked

for its defeat. © The Bill of Rights Institute

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Handout A

Duel and Death In 1795, Hamilton left the Washington administration and resumed his law practice in New York City. While acting as the defense lawyer in People of New York v. Croswell (1803), he made the argument that truth could be used as a legitimate defense in criminal libel cases. Though Hamilton lost the case, this principle was accepted in American law and greatly expanded the freedom of the press. The year after this case, Vice President Aaron Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel. Burr and Hamilton were political rivals, and Burr had taken offense at remarks attributed to Hamilton. On July 11, 1804, the two men met in the early morning at Weehawken, New Jersey. Hamilton and Burr both fired one shot. Hamilton’s bullet missed its mark, but Burr’s found Hamilton’s hip. Mortally wounded, Hamilton died the next day at the age of forty-seven.

Reading Comprehension Questions 1. What role did Hamilton play in the creation of the Constitution? 2. What were the elements of the economic plan proposed by Hamilton when he became secretary of the treasury? Why did he make these proposals? 3. What role did Hamilton play in the creation of the first American party system? Critical Thinking Questions 4. Hamilton believed in the importance of developing America’s commercial and industrial economy. Which economic system better promotes liberty and personal freedom: a commercial and industrial economy or an agrarian (agricultural) economy? 5. Do you think that having a strong federal government ensures that you have greater individual liberty? Why or why not? © The Bill of Rights Institute

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Handout B

VOCABULARY AND CONTEXT QUESTIONS

Excerpts from Federalist No. 70 (1788)

1. Vocabulary: Use context clues to determine the meaning or significance of each of these words and write their definitions: a. advocates b. vigorous c. destitute d. propriety e. conciliate f. emulation g. animosity h. formidable i. equivocal

2. Context: Answer the following questions. a. Who wrote this document? b. When was this document written? c. Who is the audience of this document? d. Why was this document written? © The Bill of Rights Institute

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Handout C

IN HIS OWN WORDS: ALEXANDER HAMILTON ON THE CONSTITUTION

Excerpts from Federalist No. 70 (1788)

Directions: Read the excerpts, playing special attention to the main ideas in bold of each paragraph. Then, complete the outline on Handout D, filling in each main idea in your own words. Finally, complete the outline with the supports Hamilton provides for each of his arguments.

To the People of the State of New York: Energy in the Executive is a leading character in the definition of good government. It is essential to the protection of the community against foreign attacks; it is not less essential to the steady administration of the laws; to the protection of property against those irregular and high-handed combinations which sometimes interrupt the ordinary course of justice; to the security of liberty against the enterprises and assaults of ambition, of faction, and of anarchy.... Those politicians and statesmen who have been the most celebrated for the soundness of their principles and for the justice of their views, have declared in favor of a single Executive and a numerous legislature. They have with great propriety, considered energy as the most necessary qualification of the former, and have regarded this as most applicable to power in a single hand, while they have, with equal propriety, considered the latter as best adapted to deliberation and wisdom, and best calculated to conciliate the confidence of the people and to secure their privileges and interests.... Wherever two or more persons are engaged in any common enterprise or pursuit, there is always danger of difference of opinion. If it be a public trust or office, in which they are clothed with equal dignity and authority, there is peculiar danger of personal emulation and even animosity. From either, and especially from all these causes, the most bitter dissensions are apt to spring. Whenever these happen, they lessen the respectability, weaken the authority. And what is still worse, they could split the community into the most violent and irreconcilable factions.... It is far more safe there should be a single object for the jealousy and watchfulness of the people; and, in a word, that all multiplication of the Executive is rather dangerous than friendly to liberty....The united credit and influence of several individuals must be more formidable to liberty, than the credit and influence of either of them separately. When power, therefore, is placed in the hands of so small a number of men, as to admit of their interests and views being easily combined in a common enterprise, by an artful leader, it becomes more liable to abuse, and more dangerous when abused, than if it be lodged in the hands of one man; who, from the very circumstance of his being alone, will be more narrowly watched and more readily suspected, and who cannot unite so great a mass of influence as when he is associated with others.

Source: “Federalist No. 70, 1788.” The Avalon Project at Yale University Law School. © The Bill of Rights Institute

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Handout D

ANALYSIS: ALEXANDER HAMILTON AND FEDERALIST NO. 70

Directions: Complete the outline below with information and arguments from Federalist No. 70. Write a paraphrase of the main idea of each paragraph (highlighted in bold on Handout C). Then fill in the supports Hamilton provides for his argument. The first section has been begun for you.

A. [paragraph one] Main idea: A strong and single executive is the most important quality for an effective government.

Supports

1. It is vital to protecting against foreign attacks

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

B. [paragraph two] Main idea:

Supports

1.

2. © The Bill of Rights Institute

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Handout D

C. [paragraph three] Main idea:

Supports

1.

2.

3.

D. [paragraph four] Main idea:

Supports

1.

2. © The Bill of Rights Institute

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LIMITED GOVERNMENT

Thomas Jefferson accurately represented the executing them in a tyrannical manner as well. In his convictions of his fellow colonists when he famous draft of a constitution for the commonwealth observed in the Declaration of Independence that of Massachusetts, Adams declared that the a government, to be considered legitimate, must be “legislative, executive and judicial power shall be based on the consent of the people and respect their placed in separate departments, to the end that it natural rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of might be a government of laws, and not of men.” happiness.”Along with other leading members of the This document, along with his Defence of the founding generation, Jefferson Constitutions of Government of understood that these principles the United States of America, dictated that the government be containing a strong case for checks given only limited powers that, and balances in government, ideally, are carefully described in were well known to the delegates written charters or constitutions. who attended the Constitutional Modern theorists like John Convention of 1787. Locke and the Baron de James Wilson, one of the Montesquieu had been making foremost legal scholars of the the case for limited government founding period and a delegate and separation of powers during from Pennsylvania at the the century prior to the American Constitutional Convention, agreed Revolution. Colonial Americans with Adams’ insistence that the were quite familiar with Locke’s power of government should be argument from his Two Treatises divided to the end of advancing of Government that “Absolute the peace and happiness of the Arbitrary Power, or Governing without settled people. In the words of Wilson, “In government, standing Laws, can neither of them consist with the the perfection of the whole depends on the balance ends of Society and Government....”Locke added of the parts, and the balance of the parts consists in that the reason people “quit the freedom of the the independent exercise of their separate powers, state of Nature [is] to preserve their Lives, Liberties and, when their powers are separately exercised, and Fortunes.”Civil society has no higher end than then in their mutual influence and operation on to provide for the safety and happiness of the one another. Each part acts and is acted upon, people, and this is best done under a system of supports and is supported, regulates and is known rules or laws that apply equally to “the regulated by the rest.” Rich and Poor,...the Favorite at Court, and the Both the Articles of Confederation and the Country Man at plough.”For his part, Montesquieu Constitution of the United States provided for argued that only where governmental power is governments with limited powers. As John Jay had limited in scope, and then parceled out among discovered as America’s secretary of foreign affairs, different departments, will people be free from the power of the central government was severely oppression. Constitutional government, for limited under the Articles and, hence, could be modern natural rights theorists, should be limited trusted to a unitary legislative department. Fear of government dedicated to the comfortable governmental tyranny and a desire to preserve the preservation of the people—that is, to their power enjoyed by the new states resulted in the security, freedom, and prosperity. creation of a central government that could not John Adams echoed the beliefs of many effectively oversee interstate commerce or do other Americans when he argued that only by creating a things that were critical to ensuring the safety and balance of forces within the government could the happiness of the people. In a letter to Edmund people hope to escape despotism and misery. An Randolph at the end of 1786, George Washington

unchecked legislature, he observed, would be bemoaned the “awful situation of our affairs” © The Bill of Rights Institute capable not only of making tyrannical laws, but of which he attributed to “the want of sufficient power

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in the foederal head.”Washington quickly joined the this chamber are tied so closely to the people by movement to create a new governmental system short terms and small districts. that was equal to “the exigencies of Union,” to In addition to matching powers and quote from the instructions given the delegates to governmental responsibilities, the delegates were the Constitutional Convention of 1787. careful to position each department to “check and The Constitution of 1787 grew out of a plan balance” the other departments. Examples are drafted largely by James Madison during the winter the executive’s veto power, the congressional and spring before the Convention. The “Virginia impeachment power, and the judicial review power Plan” proposed a central government that was entrusted to the Supreme Court, the only national supreme over the states. Evidence that the national court formally established by the Constitution. government was to be entrusted with considerable Although in good Lockean fashion the legislative power could be found in the provisions for a department was designed to be the preeminent bicameral legislature and department, it was still independent executive and subjected to checks by the judicial departments. There was never any doubt in their other branches of the The delegates who minds that they should create a government. Separation of attended the Constitutional powers as well as the system Convention were sufficiently government of “delegated and of checks and balances were versed in modern political enumerated” powers . . . devices for reducing the threat theory to understand that of governmental tyranny, not they would have to divide excluding legislative tyranny. the power of the national government if they However, the constitutional arrangement, put intended to entrust it with real authority over the into its final wording by Gouverneur Morris, was lives of the people and the states. They understood not driven entirely by a desire to eliminate the the dangers of imparting considerable political threat of tyrannical government. The system of power to a unitary sovereign. In this connection, separated and divided powers also was intended to there was never any doubt in their minds that they promote competence in government. The should create a government of “delegated and president can employ his veto not only to check enumerated” powers, that is, that the government legislative action that he considers irresponsible, should only be entrusted with specified but to provoke Congress to improve a legislative (enumerated) powers that derived directly from enactment. The Senate can use its authority to the people. While they worried about the ratify presidential nominations of cabinet officers “turbulence and follies” of democracy, they or judges to ensure that qualified candidates are recognized that government had to be based on the named to fill these positions. consent of the people to be legitimate. Writing in Federalist No. 9, Alexander Hamilton The Virginia Plan anticipated the bicameral identified the principle of separated and divided legislature and independent executive and judicial powers, along with checks and balances, as among departments found in the United States Constitution the inventions of the new science of politics that today. Building on Madison’s model, the delegates had made republican government defensible. assigned responsibilities to the departments based Madison described in Federalist No. 51 the benefits on their peculiar characteristics. The six-year term of the governmental arrangement represented in of senators, for example, seemed to make this a the new Constitution: “In the compound republic proper institution to involve in foreign policy (e.g., of America, the power surrendered by the people is ratification of treaties) since senators would have first divided between two distinct governments, more time than members of the House of and then the portion allotted to each subdivided Representatives to acquaint themselves with among distinct and separate departments. Hence a international affairs and their longer terms and double security arises to the rights of the people. larger constituencies (entire states) also would give The different governments will control each other, them more freedom to attend to matters other at the same time that each will be controlled by than the immediate interests of constituents back itself.” Significantly, Anti-Federalists as well as home. The House of Representatives was entrusted Federalists agreed that governmental powers

© The Bill of Rights Institute with the important power to initiate revenue should be limited and that these powers should be (taxation) bills precisely because the members of subject to internal as well as external checks.

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It is important to emphasize that the Framers desires of the people are held in check by the settled on an arrangement that divided yet blended Constitution. The political system still meets the the legislative, executive, and judicial powers. This criteria of democratic government, however, since facilitates interdepartmental checking while the people hold the power, through their promoting mature deliberation. Their aim was to representatives, to amend the Constitution. create a decent and competent democracy, something The paradigm of constitutional government beyond mere non-tyrannical government. They embraced by the American people in 1787, that is, placed the whole of the government, and even the limited government based on the consent of the people, under constitutional limitations. The people and committed to the protection of Constitution is the supreme law of the land, not fundamental rights, has become the dominant model the enactments of Congress or the order of the throughout the world. The rhetoric of rights, whether president or the momentary will of the people. As couched in the language of natural rights or human Chief Justice Marshall declared in Marbury v. rights, is universally appealing. Also universally Madison (1803), “The distinction between a accepted is the argument that rights are most secure government with limited and unlimited powers is when governmental powers are limited in scope abolished, if those limits do not confine the persons and subject to internal and external checks. on whom they are imposed, and if acts prohibited David E. Marion, Ph.D. and acts allowed, are of equal obligation.” Even the Hampden-Sydney College

Suggestions for Further Reading Frohnen, Bruce (ed.). The American Republic: Primary Sources. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2002. Kurland, Philip B. and Ralph Lerner (eds.) The Founders’ Constitution. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1987. Mansfield, Harvey C., Jr. Taming the Prince. New York: The Free Press, 1989. McDonald, Forrest. A Constitutional History of the United States. New York: Franklin Watts, 1982. Storing, Herbert J. What the Anti-Federalists Were For. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981. Wood, Gordon. The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787. New York: W.W. Norton, 1969. © The Bill of Rights Institute

Founders and the Constitution: In Their Own Words—Volume 2 02 005-007 Found2 Liberty 9/13/07 10:30 AM Page 5

LIBERTY

Liberty was the central political principle of the This common law understanding of liberty American Revolution. As Patrick Henry, one of its was central to the seventeenth-century struggles staunchest supporters, famously intoned,“Give me against the Stuart monarchy. Prominent jurists and liberty or give me death.” Henry was not alone Parliamentarians such as Edward Coke (1552–1634) in his rhetorical fervor. Indeed, no ideal was took the lead in the attempt to limit what they saw proclaimed more often in the eighteenth-century as the illegal and arbitrary nature of the Stuarts’ rule. Anglo-American world than liberty. This struggle culminated in the Glorious Revolution The idea of liberty defended of 1689 and the triumph of by the American Founders came Parliamentary authority over the from several sources. The most Crown. For champions of English venerable was English common liberty, the result of this century- law. Beginning in the late long struggle was the achievement medieval period, writers in the of political liberty. They further common law tradition developed argued that, as a result of this an understanding of liberty struggle, Britain in the eighteenth which held that English subjects century had the freest constitution were free because they lived in the world. According to the under a system of laws which French writer Montesquieu even the Crown was bound to (1689–1755), Britain was “the respect. Leading English jurists only nation in the world, where argued that these legal limits on political and civil liberty” was “the royal power protected the direct end of the constitution.” subject’s liberty by limiting the arbitrary use of This seventeenth century struggle between political power. royal power and the subject’s liberties made a great Under English common law, liberty also impression on the American Founders. They consisted in the subject enjoying certain fundamental absorbed its lessons about the nature and importance rights to life, liberty and property. William Blackstone of liberty through their reading of English history (1723–1780), the leading common lawyer of the as well as through their instruction in English law. eighteenth century, argued that these rights allowed A second and equally influential understanding an English subject to be the “entire master of his of liberty was also forged in the constitutional own conduct, except in those points wherein the battles of the seventeenth century: the idea that public good requires some direction or restraint . . .” liberty was a natural right pertaining to all. The For Blackstone, these English rights further protected foremost exponent of this understanding of liberty the subjects’ liberty by making them secure in their in the English-speaking world was John Locke persons from arbitrary search and seizure, and by (1632–1704). Locke’s political ideas were part of a ensuring that their property could not be taken wider European political and legal movement which from them without due process of law. argued that there were certain rights that all men In order to preserve these fundamental rights, were entitled to irrespective of social class or creed. the English common law allowed the subject the Like the common lawyers, Locke saw liberty as right to consent to the laws that bound him by centrally about the enjoyment of certain rights. electing representatives to Parliament whose consent However, he universalized the older English the monarch had to obtain before acting. understanding of liberty, arguing that it applied to Common lawyers in the seventeenth and all persons, and not just to English subjects. Locke eighteenth centuries did not view these rights and also expanded the contemporary understanding of the liberty they protected as the gift or grant of the liberty by arguing that it included other rights— monarch; rather, they believed that they were an in particular a right to religious toleration (or

© The Bill of Rights Institute Englishmen’s “birthright,” something that inhered liberty of conscience), as well as a right to resist in each subject and that therefore could not be governments that violated liberty. In addition, taken away by royal prerogative. Locke argued that the traditional English common

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law right to property was also a natural right, and hindering him from enjoying what he himself was an important part of the subject’s liberty. enjoys.” Cato was the pseudonym for two British Locke began his political theory by arguing that writers, John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon. liberty was the natural state of mankind. According Their co-authored Cato’s Letters (1720–1723) were to Locke, all men are “naturally” in a “State of widely read in the American colonies. perfect Freedom to order” their “Actions, and On the eve of the American Revolution, then, dispose of their Possessions, and Persons as they the received understanding of liberty in the Anglo- think fit, within the bounds of the Law of Nature, American world was a powerful amalgam of both without asking leave, or depending upon the Will the English common law and the liberal ideas of of any other Man.” writers like Locke and Cato. On this view, liberty However, Locke did not argue that this natural meant being able to act freely, secure in your basic liberty was a license to do whatever we want. rights, unhindered by the coercive actions of others, “Freedom is not,” he argued, and subject only to the “A Liberty for every Man to limitation of such laws as you do what he lists (For who have consented to. Central to could be free, when every No ideal was proclaimed more often this idea of liberty was the other Man’s humour might in the eighteenth-century right to hold property and to domineer over him?).” Anglo-American world than liberty. have it secure from arbitrary Rather, Locke held that since seizure. In addition, under the all men are “equal and influence of Locke, liberty was independent, no one ought increasingly being seen on to harm another in his Life, health, Liberty, or both sides of the Atlantic as a universal right, one Possessions.” According to Locke, each of us has not limited to English subjects. Equally influential “an uncontroulable Liberty to dispose of our was Locke’s argument that if a government violated persons and possession,” but we do not have the its citizens’ liberty the people could resist the right to interfere with the equal liberty of others to government’s edicts and create a new political do the same. authority. However, despite the gains that had been In Locke’s political theory, men enter into made since the seventeenth century, many society and form governments to better preserve Englishmen in the eighteenth century still worried this natural liberty. When they do so, they create a that liberty was fragile and would always be political system where the natural law limits on endangered by the ambitions of powerful men. liberty in the state of nature are translated into a Since the first settlements were established legal regime of rights. In such a system, Locke in the early seventeenth century, the American argued, each person retains his “Liberty to dispose, colonists shared in this English understanding of and order, as he lists, his Person, Actions, liberty. In particular, they believed that they had Possession, and his whole Property, within the taken their English rights with them when they Allowance of those Laws under which he is; and crossed the Atlantic. It was on the basis of these therein not to be subject to the arbitrary Will of rights that they made a case for their freedom as another, but freely follow his own.” colonists under the Crown. In addition, in the For Locke, as for the common lawyers, the rule eighteenth century, the colonists were increasingly of law was necessary for liberty. In Locke’s view, influenced by the Lockean idea that liberty was a “the end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to natural right. As a result, when they were confronted preserve and enlarge Freedom.”According to Locke, with the policies of the British Crown and Parliament “Where there is no Law, there is no Freedom. For in the 1760s and 1770s to tax and legislate for them Liberty is to be free from restraint and violence from without their consent, the colonists viewed them as others which cannot be, where there is no law.” an attack on their liberty. Building on both the English common law and In response, the colonists argued that these on Locke’s ideas, the eighteenth-century English British taxes and regulations were illegal because they writer Cato argued “that liberty is the unalienable violated fundamental rights. They were particularly right of mankind.” It is “the power which every resistant to the claims of the British Parliament, as Man has over his own Actions, and his Right to expressed in the Declaratory Act of 1766, to legislate

enjoy the Fruit of his Labour, Art, and Industry, as for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.” By 1774, © The Bill of Rights Institute far as by it he hurts not the Society, or any following the Boston Tea Party organized by Samuel members of it, by taking from any Member or by Adams and John Hancock, and the subsequent

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Coercive Acts, many leading colonists such as Since there was widespread consensus among Thomas Paine and James Otis argued that they had the Founders that liberty required the protection of a natural right to govern themselves, and that such rights and the rule of law, much of the political a right was the only protection for their liberty. In debate in the crucial decades following the American addition to several essays in defense of rights, Revolution revolved around the question of which including Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, institutional arrangements best supported liberty. John Dickinson wrote the first patriotic song,“The Was liberty best protected by strong state Liberty Song.” governments jealously guarding the people’s liberties This colonial thinking about liberty and rights from excessive federal authority, as leading Anti- culminated in the Declaration of Independence Federalists like George Mason contended; or, was issued by the Continental Congress in 1776, which an extended federal republic best able to preserve proclaimed that, because their liberty was the freedom of all, as leading Federalists like James endangered, the colonists had a natural right to Madison and Alexander Hamilton argued? resist the English King and Parliament. The era of the American Revolution also gave Having made a revolution in the name of liberty, birth to a further series of important debates about the American challenge was to create a form of liberty. Was slavery, as some Americans in the government that preserved liberty better than the eighteenth century were beginning to recognize, an vaunted British constitution had done. In doing so, unjust infringement upon the liberty of African the founders turned to the ancient ideal of republican Americans? Were women, long deprived of basic self-government, arguing that it alone could preserve legal rights, also entitled to have equal liberty with the people’s liberty. They further argued that the their male fellow citizens? By making a Revolution modern understanding of liberty as the possession of in its name, the Founders ensured that debates rights needed to be a central part of any proper about the nature and extent of liberty would republican government. Beginning in 1776, in the remain at the center of the American experiment midst of the Revolutionary War, all of the former in self-government. colonies began to construct republican governments Craig Yirush, Ph.D. which rested on the people’s consent and which University of California, Los Angeles included bills of rights to protect the people’s liberty.

Suggestions for Further Reading Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967. Kammen, Michael. Spheres of Liberty: Changing Perceptions of Liberty in American Culture. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1986. Reid, John Phillip. The Concept of Liberty in the Age of the American Revolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988. Skinner, Quentin. Liberty Before Liberalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Wood, Gordon. The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1969. © The Bill of Rights Institute

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© The Bill of Rights Institute nsz n motne Thisburgeoning commercial in size andimportance. and CharlesTown (Charleston)—grew Philadelphia, New York, cities—Boston, the maincolonial port In addition, century. intheeighteenth enormously thecolonial economies grew allof networks, theseextensive Atlantic trading As aresult of sugarislands. produce Caribbean theBritish with and trading sellingtimber, were buildingships, theNew colonies England century, the eighteenth by and, also involved world; thewider with intrade economy agricultural which was had aflourishing intheMiddle colonies farmers wheat); indigo, rice, produced valuablestaplecrops (tobacco, forexport colonies Southern The andEurope. Britain with trade inagrowing transatlantic engaging othercolonies as well with as theirsurplus trading they produced more thanwasneededforsubsistence, In allregions, commercial agriculture. colonial were farmers in engaged increasingly rural, overwhelmingly the populationwasstill Although inproductionheavily engaged andtrade. coloniesBritish in wereAmerica prosperous places the By century, themid-eighteenth themselves. where could they come andmake abetter lifefor settlers saw asaplaceAmerica andEuropean British Revolution, the untiltheeve of century settlements intheearlyseventeenth From thefirst enterprises. ascommercial inpart originated Founding. centuries before the American and European thinkers inthetwo societies thatanimated English commercial of the legitimacy argumentsabout the important aswell as before theRevolution, coloniesAmerican inthecentury commercial played activity inthe to understandboththerole that we need attitudestoward commerce, the Founders’ In order to understand in thelate century. eighteenth problemsthe central thatconfronted theFounders republican government andcommerce wasoneof therelationship between and commercial activity, anationdedicated to free enterprise example of United themodern Although States isthepreeminent The American colonies The American 9: 1A ae17 Page AM 51 Commerce o eeoeo h eet”destinedto be the “saved”“elect,” you were oneof To that dosowasasign work hard andprosper. Godwanted to people According to Puritanism, commercial activity. provided ajustificationof commercial society. a provided which supported alegalinfrastructure common theEnglish law person andproperty, By of stressing thesanctity subject’s consent. the governments without from takingproperty seizure byit protected preventing from arbitrary andwhich which itsaw ascentral to liberty, rights, property common law of stressed theimportance English of Thelongtradition British Atlantic. theeighteenth-century commercial world of intellectual justificationfortheincreasingly population from theirlands. theNative American depended ontheremoval of thecolonies theever- economyexpanding of agricultural In addition, manufactured goods. andEuropeEngland inexchange for lucrative staplecrops thatthecolonies soldto these slaves were responsible forproducing the astheRevolution approached, And, over theworld. their growing wealth to purchase goodsfrom all were alsoconsumer societiesthateagerlyused Boston involved infar-flung commercial ventures. powerful andwealthy menlike John Hancock in with alsohadalargemerchantsociety class, Seventeenth-century English Puritanism also Seventeenth-century English provided thought of Several strands The pre-Revolutionary coloniesAmerican oteNwWrd Once there, to theNew World. slaves African the movement of on profit wasfoundedinpart suchcolonists engagedinwith The Atlantic thatthe trade side. had adark however, activity, class societiesintheworld. referred to themasthefirstmiddle many have historians modern thesecolonies that of prosperity such wasthewidespread Indeed, in thisconsumerism. abletoincreasingly participate political andeconomic elite were settlers notincludedinthe white a growing number of Commerce l fthiscommercial All of 5017- 05 2 onesCmec 7/17/04 Commerce Founders 021 inequality, constant warfare, and religious fanaticism. andreligious constant warfare, inequality, were characterized by feudal andaristocratic argued, they ageswhich, to previous as superior commercialthe modern world lived inwhich they thesethinkers celebrated All of benefiting society. private wealth sought werewho simultaneously andthatthose that self-interest wasbeneficent, argued in thesameyear asthe Revolution, American writing and economist Adam Smith (1723–1790), philosopher Themoral andthearts. science, living, standards of higher relations amongnations, peaceful liberty, politicalandreligious fostering were themostconducive to human well-being, and civilization constituted stageof thehighest arguedthatcommercial They societies commerce. madeasimilardefenseof century the eighteenth Many in Scottish writers thanwar. peoples rather by among peaceful fostering trade prejudices” arguedthatcommerce (1689–1755) “cures destructive TheFrench Montesquieu writer commercial societies. offered who asophisticated defenseof writers Enlightenment eighteenth-century influential group of an Founders hadalsoencountered theideasof and deeplycommercial. Protestant, themselves viewed increasingly asfree, the Atlantic century intheeighteenth sides of onboth people English seventeenth-century ideas, Building on these thatitwassinful. denunciations commercial in activity Locke helpedto legit making thiscase, By andexchange. eschewed private property did thosesocietieswhich greater wealthforallthan produced arguing thatthey on private property by commercial societiesbased Locke defended own labor. by their to private property aright generated they rather, by thestate; rights property were individuals notgiven According to Locke, anindividual’s to property. right theoretical defenseof Locke offered anelaborate In addition, and trade. to engageinproduction includingtheliberty person, the of itplaced avalueontheliberty common law, Like the justification foracommercial society. alsoprovided andproperty, to liberty right a natural hisideasabout andinparticular Locke (1632–1704), past theRevolution. remained apowerful force in lifewellAmerican Puritan This work ethic and not “damned.” ytetm fteRvlto,the American theRevolution, By thetimeof John writer theEnglish of The politicaltheory Founders andtheConstitution: InTheirOwnWords—VolumeFounders 1 h aeo age-old the face of 9: od sowas asignthat you were one do To codn oPrtns,Godwanted According toPuritanism, 1A ae18 Page AM 51 fthe “elect,” destinedtobe “saved”of people towork hardandprosper. n not“damned.” and imize fConfederation brought thesequestions about of Continental Congress underthe operating Articles the both thenewstate governments andthatof by them.” begreatlypromoted might thepeople happiness of arguingthat “the century), intheeighteenth laws” onconsumptionlegal restrictions (called “sumptuary John Adams for openlycalled state governments, lawmakers inthenewlyindependentrepublican aguidefor in1776, onGovernment” “Thoughts Writing hisinfluential andself-interest. to luxury one lesslikely to succumb citizenry, more virtuous would fromthis withdrawal alsocreate trade a somecolonists arguedthat commerce, of critique andtheclassicalrepublicanboth theChristian on Drawing inthe1760sand1770s. agreements colonies organized nonimportation widespread the In theirattempts economy, to theBritish harm anticommercial sentiments inthecolonial populace. commercialthe eighteenth-century world. banking andpublicprivate debtthatsupported commercial thenewinstitutionsof be suspiciousof themto theideasledsomeof In particular, century. influenced theFounders inthelate eighteenth commerce to republican government dangers of classicalideasaboutthe These for thepublicgood. there wasanindependentcitizenry ensuring asameansto theend of primarily didso they rights, thinkers defendedproperty To theextent thatrepublican gain. material of self-interest would produce citizens overly concerned dedicated toargued thatasociety commerce and They shared asimilarskepticism aboutcommerce. Greece andRome who the republican thinkers of thatof with thought combined intheFounders’ critique thisChristian years after independence, In the usury. Keayne oncharges of wasputontrial themerchant Robert in theseventeenth century, In New England used to denounce moneymaking. could be even initsPuritan form, Christianity, commerce. Founders were supportive notall of olwn h eouin theexperience of Following theRevolution, The Revolution initiallyfostered these theideasthatinfluenced the However, too focusedonthepursuit peoplewere would belostif thatliberty worrying luxury, of about thepoliticaleffects concernedparticularly republican thinkers were classical These public good. insufficiently attentive to the private matters and with aal facting capable of that

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the relationship between republican governments in the knowledge that they would be able to reap and commercial activity to the fore. By ending the the benefits of their labor. old British trading system, the Revolution also Although the new Constitution laid the ushered in a debate about the commercial relations groundwork for an extended commercial republic, between the United States and the rest of the world. it did not end the debates among the Founders The newly independent United States faced over the legitimacy of commerce. In the 1790s, the severe economic difficulties in the 1780s. The Federalists argued for a government-led program states found themselves with limited access to the of commercial expansion, involving investments in lucrative British markets. They also owed money to infrastructure as well as the creation of a national those who had financed the war. But the Continental banking system. However, the Democratic- Congress lacked the legal power to compel the state Republican Party under Thomas Jefferson was governments to agree on a common commercial much more divided on the merits of commercial policy. It also lacked the republicanism. One strand authority to requisition the of Jeffersonian thought was taxes necessary to pay off the Although the new Constitution laid the skeptical of extensive Revolutionary War debt groundwork for an extended commercial commercial activity, from the state governments. republic, it did not end the debates preferring instead a society Robert Morris, who served among the Founders over the of independent yeoman as Congress’ superintendent farmers whose landed status of finance from 1781–1783, legitimacy of commerce. would give them a secure was reduced to pleading material base for republican with the state governors to send money to the citizenship. In making this argument, the national government. Jeffersonians echoed the republican thinkers of The war had also left the individual states with antiquity who valued landed property over large debts to repay. In order to pay these debts off, commercial property because it alone enabled the many states raised taxes and issued paper money virtuous citizen to act in the public interest. This that rapidly depreciated. In addition, many of the aspect of Jeffersonian thought was also skeptical of states began to interfere with the free movements manufacturing and wage labor, fearing that a of goods within the United States. populace engaged in such pursuits would not be able The drafting of the new Constitution in to obtain the independence required of republican Philadelphia in 1787 set out to address the economic citizens. Finally, Jeffersonians were very concerned problems of the 1780s by creating a national about the modern institutions of banking and government that would have the authority to impose public and private debt, fearing that they would taxes, regulate foreign trade, and, most importantly, enable powerful men to undermine republican create a common commercial policy between the government by setting up an aristocracy of money. various state governments. In the Federalist Papers, However, Jeffersonian thought also had a James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, the most strong laissez-faire element, one that became prominent defenders of the new Constitution, increasingly important as the eighteenth century argued forcefully that the federal government came to a close. Although still preferring needed these expanded powers in order to create a commercial agriculture over manufacturing, large free trading area within the continental Jeffersonians were ardently in favor of free labor, United States. They, along with their coauthor free trade, and free markets. On this view, John Jay, also argued for a vigorous commercial commerce was a liberating, even equalizing force, policy to open up markets for foreign trade. allowing the common people to benefit from the In making these arguments, the framers were fruits of their own labor. In addition, this heavily influenced by the Enlightenment defense of Jeffersonian policy of laissez-faire was very commerce discussed above. The Framers further skeptical of the Federalist plans for extensive state- argued that republican government, by allowing directed commerce, preferring instead to let both political and economic freedom, would foster individuals make their own economic decisions. virtuous behavior in its citizens. Freed from the This element of the Jeffersonian attitude toward burden of supporting monarchs and aristocrats, commerce expressed the powerful desire of the

© The Bill of Rights Institute ordinary people in a republic would have the American populace for material improvement, a incentive to be industrious and productive, secure desire which had deep roots in the colonial past.

Commerce 5017- 05 2 onesCmec 7/17/04 Commerce Founders 021 oeie eedda nepeso fthe sometimes defendedasanexpression of andonethatwas commercial activity, of form slavery profitable asitbecameanincreasingly of free theinstitution menandfree laborclashedwith of thisvision expanded west, liberty” “empire of asJefferson’s However, one’s labor. of the fruits andto enjoy to property own included theright Most agreed thatrepublicanAmericans liberty commercial activity. of debates aboutthepropriety McCoy, Drew R. Drew McCoy, andPractice “Commerce intheNew Principle In andCharacter.” The Thinking Revolutionary: Ralph. Lerner, Stephen. Innes, Christine. Heyrman, plb,Joyce. Appleby, Suggestions Reading for Further esn John R. Nelson, Jefferson’s electionin1800didnotendthese Republic. 1995. Norton &Co., W. 1690–1750. 1984. University Press, atmr,M. on okn nvriyPes 1987. Johns Hopkins University Press, Md.: Baltimore, 1982. Co., taa ..:CrelUiest rs,1987. Cornell University Press, : N.Y. Ithaca, aiaimadaNwSca re:TeRpbia iino the1790s. Capitalism andaNew Order: The Republican Social Vision of Creating the Commonwealth: The Economic Culture of Puritan New Puritan England. Creating theCommonwealth: The EconomicCulture of iet n rpry oiia cnm n oiyaigi h e ain 1789–1812. Political andProperty: Liberty Economy andPolicymaking intheNew Nation, The ElusiveRepublic: Political Economy inJeffersonian America. e ok .W otn&C. 1984. Norton &Co., W. W. New York: Founders andtheConstitution: InTheirOwnWords—VolumeFounders 1 omreadClue h aiieCmuiiso Colonial Massachusetts, Commerce andCulture: Communities of The Maritime 9: 1A ae20 Page AM 51 States well into thenineteenth century. commercialquestions intheincreasingly United state of andthedesirability intervention intheeconomy remained pressing free trade, of theissue banks, therole of in arepublican society, manufacturing theplace of thequestionof labor, therelationship between slaverywith andfree Along commitment toAmerican private property. New York: W. W. Norton & Norton W. W. New York: nvriyo aiona Los Angeles California, University of New York: New York New York: New e ok W. New York: ri iuh Ph.D. Craig Yirush,

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© The Bill of Rights Institute laws thatboundthemthrough two institutions: thesubjects toallowing express their power by and limited arbitrary preserved liberty were anEnglishman’s “Birthright.”Property” and “Liberty of theserights theday, language of used In thewidely Violence andOppression.” “to befreed inPerson &Estate from Arbitrary For Penn, andproperty. subjectwas meantthatevery rights these English liberty, life, thoseof law: by common orprivileges had three rights central Englishmen all According to Penn, rights. of view thiscommon-law of summaries contemporary offered onethebest Pennsylvania, founder of the William Penn, the late seventeenth century, in In dissenters aguideforreligious written rights. influenced common by English law anditsideaof the seventeenth centuries wasdeeply andeighteenth the colonistsAmerican in of The politicaltheory of Englishmen The CommonLawandtheRights yearsin thecrucial before theRevolution. political ideasthatinfluenced colonial Americans firstto understandthe itisnecessary created, andthenewConstitution thatthey them possible, theFounders made who events, extraordinary In order to better understandthese political ideas. of grasp afirm with politicalskills practical men whocombined politicians, of generation new would beledby a thecolonies years, crucial In these republican state. federal a trans-continental, and lay thefoundationsfor wageabloody war, declare independence, Britain, of would they challenge thepoliticalcontrol five years, inthenext twenty- Yet, dependent uponLondon. remained they politicallyandeconomically America, North mostof defeat France andtake control of Britain andhadjusthelped century eighteenth inthe growth economic anddemographic hadexperienced significant they Although America. North outalongtheeastern seaboard of strung colonies group of asmall consistedAmerica of whatwasto become theUnited States of In 1760, nPn’ iw h nls ytmo government In system Penn’s of theEnglish view, Explaining theFounding 9: 7A Page AM 37 Introductory Essay: 1 consent to the Executive freeman every ashare“has inthe Penn argued, juries, on By serving power. limitingarbitrary means of common consent agreed oninthatgreat Council.” butsuch asare by England, bind thePeople of becauseitensured that was important “no newLaws consent through Parliament of that thegranting in theLegislative (orLaw making)Power.” Penn felt “the subjecthasashare by hischosen Representatives “Parliaments andJuries.”“By Penn thefirst,” argued, government—protecting asitdidthe “unparallel’d thissystem of and hiscontemporaries, According to Penn protecting these rights. end of consent asthemajormeansto the the concept of It alsoenshrined theirsubjects. of inherent rights according to laws known and by respecting the were kings held thatEnglish boundto rule it As aresult, Englishmen’s andprivileges. rights political power asfundamentally has impos’d or forfeiture.” such apenalty forwhich theLaw orsomeCrime, by hisConsent, but either which hecannotbedeprived of, Estate, hisPerson inhis andProperty as to Freedom of having afixed him, with Fundamental-Right born each man Subject’severy and Duty Allegiance, “the Law isboth themeasure andtheboundof Penn argued, “In England,” By contrast, pleasure.” himat orImprison orbanish, Execute him, hemay eitherpresently any Crime, suspected of onebeaccussed [ andif lists; how andasoften ashe when, seizes amans Estate, or imposethTaxes, any mansHead, Word takes off themeer[ Nations, andother “In France, Penn colorfully putit: rather As system by thatwasruled laws andnotby men. celebrated wasa seventeenth-century Englishmen In Penn’s view, juries were juries In Penn’s anequallyimportant view, h te seto theirgovernment that The otheraspectof hscmo a iwo politicsunderstood This common law of view Explaining theFounding ato h a,n assbigtid nor noCausesbeingtried, theLaw, of part ilo h rnei a,his thePrince isLaw, sic] Will of Englishmen. Priviledges vital were “the Liberty” English Pillars of two grand “These Penn, hisPeers of butuponthe Estate, [ any manadjudgedto loose ie memberor sic] Life, ,orbutsomuch as sic], rEul. For or Equals.” Fundamental limited ”of [sic]” Verdict by 1001- 01 0 onesIto7/17/04 Intro Founders 005 protecting rights. thesenatural governments of were forthesolepurpose formed that allmenby nature thatargued politicaltheory new understandingof Europeanimportant thinkers beganto construct a several Hugowriter Grotius intheearly1600s, theDutch with Beginning Founders. American the profoundly influentialonthepoliticalideas of onethatwasto prove European politicalthought, arevolutionThe seventeenth in witnessed century Natural Rights asfundamentallaw. legalrights English core thatenshrined rights contained billsof both thestate constitutions andfederal typically As aconsequence, limiting governmental power. forintheseventeenth asameansof fought century had thelegal guarantees thatEnglishmen many of wrote constitutions they thatincluded governments, thecolonists theirown when formed the Revolution, After theirconsent inthe1760sand1770s. without Parliament’s attempt to forthem taxorlegislate these ideascanbeseenintheirstrong oppositionto thepeople. of thefundamentalliberties violating rulers government of thatlimited thepossibility of consequent desire to create aconstitutional form power anda arbitrary This Founders astrong fear of instilledinthe history English rights. awareness of subjects’ of law andthesanctity of rule unwritten constitution the inEngland’shad enshrined believed thatit They history. as akey momentinEnglish 1688 RevolutionGlorious of inthe rights) subjects’ the representative of Parliament (which subsequent of triumph thedefeatof viewed century Colonial intheeighteenth Americans limited by law. shouldbe amonarch, even thatof all politicalpower, drew onthecommonEnglishmen law to arguethat many In response, rights. threatened theirsubjects’ hadrepeatedly kings a timewhentheStuart intheseventeenth England century, of thehistory of Thislegaleducationalsomadethemaware world. for elitesAnglo-American intheeighteenth-century thatwascommon through thelegaltraining rights than any otherPeople inthe World.” nation made theEnglish “more free andhappy andProperty”—had Liberty [sic]of Priviledge The seriousness with which thecolonists with took The seriousness English The Founders of imbibedthisview Founders andtheConstitution: InTheirOwnWords—VolumeFounders 1 a qa ihs andthat had equalrights, 9: 7A Page AM 37 the Stuarts andthe the Stuarts The politicaltheoryofthe American colonists intheseventeenth and eighteenth centuries was deeplyeighteenth centuries influenced by Englishcommon was seenas a n itsideaofrights. and law 2 elrto fIdpnec:“We holdthese Independence: of Declaration As hesoeloquentlyarguedinthe founding. thatthesepoliticalideashadonthe the impact to resist Britain. hadaright argue thatthey tocommon law theory andLockean rights natural invoked patriots American boththe consent, their and 1770sto forthem without legislate Parliament theBritish inthe1760s the claimsof When faced with theFounders. of political theory common to law shapethe rights the olderideaof government by consent combined powerfully with Its freedom emphasisonindividual and sermons. and newspapers, numerous politicalpamphlets, in appearing colonies century, intheeighteenth inthe American politicaltheory component of belonged to thepeopleandnotto theking. meant thatultimate politicalauthority theory political revolutionary This devising. their own popular sovereignty to create anew government of join together andexercise theircollective or could They then theirrights. itviolated if authority to resist its thepeoplehadaright government, because itwasthepeoplewhohadcreated the Locke arguedthat, further would bebetter secured. government inorder rights thattheirnatural nature gathered together andconsented to create a meninthisstate of As aresult, men. wherein allthepower is andjurisdiction equality, nature was “a state alsoof thestate of Locke, For any otherman.” of depending uponthewill or askingleave, without nature, thelaw of bounds of the within thinkfit, asthey possessions andpersons, their anddisposeof freedom to order theiractions, perfect astate of andthatis, men are in, naturally state what all we must consider, from itsoriginal, “and derive it Locke wrote, political power right,” “To understand IIandhisbrother James. Charles to resistance justifyarmed topolitical theory Locke wrote abookon inthe1670sand1680s, kings Deeply involved intheoppositionto theStuart world wasJohnEnglish-speaking Locke (1632–1704). Thomas Jefferson offersthe best example of becameacentral rights natural This ideaof inthe thistheory The leadingproponent of regulate disputes among judgeorumpire toimpartial that italsolacked an Locke contended freedom, perfect nature wasastate of pregovernmental state of more thananother.” noonehaving reciprocal, Although this Although

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© The Bill of Rights Institute new federal Constitutionnew federal in1787. the This methodwasto influence theauthorsof which wasnotchangeable legislation. by ordinary secure theminaconstitution by enshrining rights itmade thepeople’s natural In particular, practice. philosopherslike Locke to beputinto ideas of This innovationAmerican allowed the ratification. followed by aprocess of aconstitution, writing convention convened of solelyforthe purpose aspecial power to constitute governments: people themselves could exercise theirsovereign Massachusetts created amechanism by which the separate church andstate. andfully endfemalelegalinequality, franchise, wider arguefora invoke theseidealsto challenge slavery, downtrodden groups beganto aspreviously society become apparent inpostrevolutionary American would slowlythis insistence rights onequalnatural implicationsof radical The happiness andsafety.” andpursuingobtaining possessing property, and acquiring themeansof with life andliberty, theenjoyment of namely, or divest theirposterity; 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hisPower because consists onlyin Civil Magistrate, Soulscannotbelongto the care of As heputit:“The conscience thatnogovernment could infringe. of which hecontended thatthere right was anatural Concerningpublished in1689ALetter Toleration, Locke earlierwriters, Building onthework of ideas. thesenew played amajorrole inthedevelopment of the attempts to enforce beliefsinEurope religious itwasdangerous because required belief; voluntary faith It wasunjustbecausetrue dangerous. insisted thatsuch coercion wasbothunjustand they Rather, worship. to conform of to oneform governments shouldnotattempt to force individuals thinkers andEurope inbothEngland arguedthat afew Protestants thatfollowed theReformation, bloody warsbetween religious Catholicsand the As aresult of church andstate. of separation toleration andthe arguments forreligious European wastheemergence of politicaltheory A related development inseventeenth-century Separation ofChurchandState Religious Toleration andthe hs da bu h ihso conscience and of These ideasabouttherights Explaining theFounding philosopher John Locke peacecivil andprosperity. theresult would be belief, ceased to enforce religious governments argued thatif These thinkers further butto war. civil uniformity, had lednotto religious fteMn,without theMind, sic] of Once againtheEnglish in 1001- 01 0 onesIto7/17/04 Intro Founders 005 constitutional system basedonpopularconsent. to anew craft sought asthey century eighteenth modelforthe Foundersimportant inthelate constitution provided andthey an written of type These settlercovenants were anearly documents. alsowroteAmericans Founding theirown thatgoverned colonies,instructions theEnglish building. nation requisite experience forthedifficulttaskof political classinthe the coloniesAmerican with government to alsohelped create anindigenous self- Thislong-standingpractice of after 1776. independent republican governments intheyears which theFounders were ableto create viable in each colony thespeedwith alsoexplains inpart consent to alllaws thatbound them. exercised common to theirEnglish law right In thesecolonial assembliesthey Parliament. assemblies thatwere modeledontheEnglish had governed themselves to alargeextent inlocal (unlikeAmericas theFrench andSpanish colonies) colonies inthe theEnglish mostof century, Since theirfoundingintheearlyseventeenth colonial self-government. the longexperience of wasalsodeeplyinfluenced by century eighteenth theFounders inthelate The politicalthinkingof Colonial Self-Government Constitution.federal the to First Amendment well asmostfamouslyin the as the state constitutions, inmany of right as aformal itwasenshrined Revolution, After the century. eighteenth by thelate political theory American element of had become animportant the government shouldnotenforce belief religious theideathat As aresult, receptiveparticularly to them. proved becoming ever more pluralistic, religiously the colonies,American speaking Protestant world, toleration spreadreligious throughout theEnglish- thetime. the standard of freedom religious by degree of an extraordinary bothprovided and foundedinthe1680s, Pennsylvania, foundedinthe1630s, Maryland, addition, In but Roman Catholicsandreal Christians.” Rhode Island contained “everything intheworld In charters additionto androyal thevarious thesestrong localgovernments The existence of astheseargumentsfor In century, theeighteenth Founders andtheConstitution: InTheirOwnWords—VolumeFounders 1 9: 7A Page AM 37 yraigtecasc,the American By reading theclassics, lent oiia iin onethat politicalvision, alternate Founders were introducedtoan legitimated republicanism.legitimated 4 odo thewhole(the good of Citizens hadto beableto putthe their citizenry. in virtue civic degree of ahigh survival their very republics required for people governed themselves, arguedthatbecausethe they In particular, its fragility. were they intensely aware of government, of believed thatarepublicwriters wasthebestform ancient Though liberty. foundationsof moral republicanism wastheemphasisthatitputon republicanism. onethatlegitimized to analternate politicalvision, the FoundersAmerican were introduced classics, By reading the believed inmonarchy. strongly againstroyal rights power defended subjects’ from Aristotle to Cicero republican hadpraised Ancient politicalthinkers government by thepeople. or republicanism, it introduced themto theideaof First, ways. inseveral important thought ancientGreece andRome. of historians thegreat politicalthinkers and of writings were they heavily influenced by the century, education incolonial colleges intheeighteenth theFounders received aclassical many of Because intheseventeenthoriginated century. Not theintellectual influences all ontheFounders Classical Republicanism the Founders alsoencountered republican ideasin proposed Constitution federal inthe1780s. animated thecontentious debate over the largerepublics that about theweakness of itwasthisclassicalteaching In part, forthcoming. be virtue civic degree of would thenecessary argued, they relatively homogeneoussociety, Onlyinasmalland republics hadto besmall. that alsotaught ancientwriters citizenry, virtuous would ultimately belost. andliberty ambition, power and republic would fallprey to menof the failedto they do this, If privateown interests. h eodlgc fthisclassicalideaof The second legacyof political theFounders’ shaped Antiquity nadto oterraigo ancientauthors, In additionto theirreading of thisneedforanexceptionally As aresult of common law who jurists where even the England, eighteenth-century culture of heavily monarchical political grounds to dissentfrom the Founders asitgave them forthe was important This classical politicalthought political system. self-government asthebest ha ftheir res publica)aheadof

© The Bill of Rights Institute 1001- 01 0 onesIto7/29/04 Intro Founders 005

© The Bill of Rights Institute the radical the radical Whigs arguedthatitwasbothcorrupt government possible, of seeing itasthebestform Instead of constitution. British eighteenth-century the of critique Founders animportant with rights. individual of the importance insistence andthemodern on citizenry virtuous one thatcombined theancientconcern a with republicanism to enter politicalthought, American of conduit type foramodern important thus becamean They popular sovereignty. and rights natural the newer Lockean ideasof Whigs combined classicalrepublican with thought theseradical fortheFounding, Crucially world. government inthe monarchy of wasthebestform believed thattheirconstitutionalEnglishmen Civil the English War atatimewhenmost keptThese writers alive therepublican legacyof calledthe eighteenth- writers English century “radical Whigs.” agroup of of the politicaltheory ukr,Michael. Zuckert, ostr Clinton. Rossiter, ed John Phillip. Reid, uz Donald. Lutz, Bernard. Bailyn, Suggestions Reading for Further These radical These radical Whigs alsoprovided the ok acutBae 1953. Harcourt Brace, York: 1994. 1995. Wisconsin Press, University of iet ud 1998. Fund, Liberty rs,1967. Press, 2: 8P Page PM 28 Colonial Origins of the American Constitution: A Documentary History. the American Constitution: A Documentary of Colonial Origins h dooia rgn fthe American Revolution. of Origins The Ideological edieo h eulc h rgn fteAeia rdto fPolitical Liberty. the American Tradition of of theRepublic: The Origins of Seedtime Natural Rights andtheNew Republicanism. h osiuinlHsoyo the American Revolution. of History The Constitutional 5 rneo,NJ:Princeton University Press, N.J.: Princeton, tde ftheFounders themselves. studies of followed by detailedbiographical political theory, theFounders’ of aspects important examination of we now to turn amore detailed the Founding, Having setthisbroad context for church andstate. of andtheseparation popularsovereignty, consent, republicanism in basedonequalrights, America Founders were ableto create anewkindof the theseintellectual onall traditions, Drawing Conclusion century. republicanismAmerican inthelate eighteenth influence onthedevelopment of was animportant classically inspired radical Whig constitutionalism This the executive from branch thelegislature. of constitution separation andaformal a written for called they order to reform it, In and tyrannical. abig,Ms. Harvard University Mass.: Cambridge, Explaining theFounding bigdEiin aio:The Madison: Abridged Edition. nvriyo aiona Los Angeles California, University of ninpls Ind.: Indianapolis, New ri iuh Ph.D. Craig Yirush, 19 180-186 Founders EM 7/17/04 11:03 AM Page 180

ADDITIONAL CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Visual Assessment 1. Founders Posters—Have students create posters for either an individual Founder, a group of Founders, or an event. Ask them to include at least one quotation (different from classroom posters that accompany this volume) and one image. 2. Coat of Arms—Draw a coat of arms template and divide into 6 quadrants (see example). Photocopy and hand out to the class. Ask them to create a coat of arms for a particular Founder with a different criterion for each quadrant (e.g., occupation, key contribution, etc.). Include in the assignment an explanation sheet in which they describe why they chose certain colors, images, and symbols. 3. Individual Illustrated Timeline—Ask each student to create a visual timeline of at least ten key points in the life of a particular Founder. In class, put the students in groups and have them discuss the intersections and juxtapositions in each of their timelines. 4. Full Class Illustrated Timeline—Along a full classroom wall, tape poster paper in one long line. Draw in a middle line and years (i.e., 1760, 1770, 1780, etc.). Put students in pairs and assign each pair one Founder. Ask them to put together ten key points in the life of the Founder. Have each pair draw in the key points on the master timeline. 5. Political Cartoon—Provide students with examples of good political cartoons, contemporary or historical. A good resource for finding historical cartoons on the Web is . Ask them to create a political cartoon based on an event or idea in the Founding period.

Performance Assessments 1. Meeting of the Minds—Divide the class into five groups and assign a Founder to each group. Ask the group to discuss the Founder’s views on a variety of pre- determined topics. Then, have a representative from each group come to the front of the classroom and role-play as the Founder, dialoguing with Founders from other groups. The teacher will act as moderator, reading aloud topic questions (based on the pre-determined topics given to the groups) and encouraging discussion from the students in character. At the teacher’s discretion, questioning can be opened up to the class as a whole. For advanced students, do not provide a list of topics—ask them to know their character well enough to present him properly on all topics. 2. Create a Song or Rap—Individually or in groups, have students create a song or rap about a Founder based on a familiar song, incorporating at least five key events or ideas of the Founder in their project. Have students perform their song in class. (Optional: Ask the students to bring in a recording of the song for background music.)

Web/Technology Assessments 1. Founders PowerPoint Presentation—Divide students into groups. Have each group create a PowerPoint presentation about a Founder or event. Determine the number of slides, and assign a theme to each slide (e.g., basic biographic information, major contributions, political philosophy, quotations, repercussions of the event, participants in the event, etc.). Have them hand out copies of the slides and give the presentation to the class. You may also ask for a copy of the

Founders and the Constitution: In Their Own Words—Volume 1 19 180-186 Founders EM 7/17/04 11:03 AM Page 181

presentation to give you the opportunity to combine all the presentations into an end-of-semester review. 2. Evaluate Web sites—Have students search the Web for three sites related to a Founder or the Founding period (you may provide them with a “start list” from the resource list at the end of each lesson). Create a Web site evaluation sheet that includes such questions as: Are the facts on this site correct in comparison to other sites? What sources does this site draw on to produce its information? Who are the main contributors to this site? When was the site last updated? Ask students to grade the site according to the evaluation sheet and give it a grade for reliability, accuracy, etc. They should write a 2–3 sentence explanation for their grade. 3. Web Quest—Choose a Web site(s) on the Constitution, Founders, or Founding period. (See suggestions below.) Go to the Web site(s) and create a list of questions taken from various pages within the site. Provide students with the Web address and list of questions, and ask them to find answers to the questions on the site, documenting on which page they found their answer. Web site suggestions: • The Avalon Project • The Founders’ Constitution • Founding.com • National Archives Charters of Freedom • The Library of Congress American Memory Page • Our Documents • Teaching American History A good site to help you construct the Web Quest is:

Verbal Assessments 1. Contingency in History—In a one-to-two page essay, have students answer the question, “How would history have been different if [Founder] had not been born?” They should consider repercussions for later events in the political world. 2. Letters Between Founders—Ask students to each choose a “Correspondence Partner” and decide which two Founders they will be representing. Have them read the appropriate Founders essays and primary source activities. Over a period of time, the pair should then write at least three letters back and forth (with a copy being given to the teacher for review and feedback). Instruct them to be mindful of their Founders’ tone and writing style, life experience, and political views in constructing the letters. 3. Categorize the Founders—Create five categories for the Founders (e.g., slave- holders vs. non-slaveholders, northern vs. southern, opponents of the Constitution vs. proponents of the Constitution, etc.) and a list of Founders studied. Ask students to place each Founder in the appropriate category. For advanced students, ask them to create the five categories in addition to categorizing the Founders. 4. Obituaries and Gravestones—Have students write a short obituary or gravestone engraving that captures the major accomplishments of a Founder (e.g., Thomas Jefferson’s gravestone). Ask them to consider for what the Founder wished to be remembered. 5. “I Am” Poem—Instruct students to select a Founder and write a poem that refers to specific historical events in his life (number of lines at the teacher’s discretion).

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ADDITIONAL CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Each line of the poem must begin with “I” (i.e., “I am…,”“I wonder…,”“I see…,” etc.). Have them present their poem with an illustration of the Founder. 6. Founder’s Journal—Have students construct a journal of a Founder at a certain period in time. Ask them to pick out at least five important days. In the journal entry, make sure they include the major events of the day, the Founder’s feelings about the events, and any other pertinent facts (e.g., when writing a journal about the winter at Valley Forge, Washington may have included information about the troops’ morale, supplies, etc.). 7. Résumé for a Founder—Ask students to create a resume for a particular Founder. Make sure they include standard resume information (e.g., work experience, education, skills, accomplishments/honors, etc.). You can also have them research and bring in a writing sample (primary source) to accompany the resume. 8. Cast of Characters—Choose an event in the Founding Period (e.g., the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the debate about the Constitution in a state ratifying convention, etc.) and make a list of individuals related to the incident. Tell students that they are working for a major film studio in Hollywood that has decided to make a movie about this event. They have been hired to cast actors for each part. Have students fill in your list of individuals with actors/actresses (past or present) with an explanation of why that particular actor/actress was chosen for the role. (Ask the students to focus on personality traits, previous roles, etc.)

Review Activities 1. Founders Jeopardy—Create a Jeopardy board on an overhead sheet or handout (six columns and five rows). Label the column heads with categories and fill in all other squares with a dollar amount. Make a sheet that corresponds to the Jeopardy board with the answers that you will be revealing to the class. (Be sure to include Daily Doubles.) a. Possible categories may include: • Thomas Jefferson (or the name of any Founder) • Revolutionary Quirks (fun Founders facts) • Potpourri (miscellaneous) • Pen is Mightier (writings of the Founders) b. Example answers: • This Founder drafted and introduced the first formal proposal for a permanent union of the thirteen colonies. Question: Who is Benjamin Franklin? • This Founder was the only Roman Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence. Question: Who is Charles Carroll? 2. Who Am I?—For homework, give each student a different Founder essay. Ask each student to compile a list of five-to-ten facts about his/her Founder. In class, ask individuals to come to the front of the classroom and read off the facts one at a time, prompting the rest of the class to guess the appropriate Founder. 3. Around the World—Develop a list of questions about the Founders and plot a “travel route” around the classroom in preparation for this game. Ask one student to volunteer to go first. The student will get up from his/her desk and “travel” along the route plotted to an adjacent student’s desk, standing next to it. Read a question aloud, and the first student of the two to answer correctly advances to the next stop on the travel route. Have the students keep track of how many places they advance. Whoever advances the furthest wins.

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AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY GLOSSARY

Common Good: General conditions that are equally to everyone’s advantage. In a republic, held to be superior to the good of the individual, though its attainment ought never to violate the natural rights of any individual.

Democracy: From the Greek, demos, meaning “rule of the people.” Had a negative connotation among most Founders, who equated the term with mob rule. The Founders considered it to be a form of government into which poorly-governed republics degenerated.

English Rights: Considered by Americans to be part of their inheritance as Englishmen; included such rights as property, petition, and trials by jury. Believed to exist from time immemorial and recognized by various English charters as the Magna Carta, the Petition of Right of 1628, and the English Bill of Rights of 1689.

Equality: Believed to be the condition of all people, who possessed an equality of rights. In practical matters, restricted largely to land-owning white men during the Founding Era, but the principle worked to undermine ideas of deference among classes.

Faction: A small group that seeks to benefit its members at the expense of the common good. The Founders discouraged the formation of factions, which they equated with political parties.

Federalism: A political system in which power is divided between two levels of government, each supreme in its own sphere. Intended to avoid the concentration of power in the central government and to preserve the power of local government.

Government: Political power fundamentally limited by citizens’ rights and privileges. This limiting was accomplished by written charters or constitutions and bills of rights.

Happiness: The ultimate end of government. Attained by living in liberty and by practicing virtue.

Inalienable Rights: Rights that can never justly be taken away.

Independence: The condition of living in liberty without being subject to the unjust rule of another.

Liberty: To live in the enjoyment of one’s rights without dependence upon anyone else. Its enjoyment led to happiness.

Natural Rights: Rights individuals possess by virtue of their humanity. Were thought to be “inalienable.” Protected by written constitutions and bills of rights that restrained government.

Property: Referred not only to material possessions, but also to the ownership of one’s body and rights. Jealously guarded by Americans as the foundation of liberty during the

crisis with Britain. © The Bill of Rights Institute

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Reason: Human intellectual capacity and rationality. Believed by the Founders to be the defining characteristic of humans, and the means by which they could understand the world and improve their lives.

Religious Toleration: The indulgence shown to one religion while maintaining a privileged position for another. In pluralistic America, religious uniformity could not be enforced so religious toleration became the norm.

Representation: Believed to be central to republican government and the preservation of liberty. Citizens, entitled to vote, elect officials who are responsible to them, and who govern according to the law.

Republic: From the Latin, res publica, meaning “the public things.”A government system in which power resides in the people who elect representatives responsible to them and who govern according to the law. A form of government dedicated to promoting the common good. Based on the people, but distinct from a democracy.

Separation of Church and State: The doctrine that government should not enforce religious belief. Part of the concept of religious toleration and freedom of conscience.

Separation of Powers/Checks and Balances: A way to restrain the power of government by balancing the interests of one section of government against the competing interests of another section. A key component of the federal Constitution. A means of slowing down the operation of government, so it did not possess too much energy and thus endanger the rights of the people.

Slavery: Referred both to chattel slavery and political slavery. Politically, the fate that befell those who did not guard their rights against governments. Socially and economically, an institution that challenged the belief of the Founders in natural rights.

Taxes: Considered in English tradition to be the free gift of the people to the government. Americans refused to pay them without their consent, which meant actual representation in Parliament.

Tyranny: The condition in which liberty is lost and one is governed by the arbitrary will of another. Related to the idea of political slavery.

Virtue: The animating principle of a republic and the quality essential for a republic’s survival. From the Latin, vir, meaning “man.” Referred to the display of such “manly” traits as courage and self-sacrifice for the common good. © The Bill of Rights Institute

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Answer Key

in Pennsylvania, “The Liberty Song,” the Handout C—In His Own Words: John “Petition to the King,” the Declaration Dickinson on the Townshend Acts of the Causes of Taking Up Arms, and • Likely appeal to British Parliament and the Articles of Confederation. Loyalist Americans: Paragraph 2; 5. Some students may suggest that Dick- Paragraph 3, lines 1–5 inson’s opposition to the Declaration of • Likely to appeal to Patriots: Paragraph 1; Independence has excluded him from Paragraph 5, line 1; Paragraph 6 the pantheon of heroes of the Ameri- can independence movement. Others Alexander may note that his moderation had made him less interesting than more Hamilton extreme figures in the debates about Handout A—Alexander Hamilton independence and the new Constitu- (1757–1804) tion. Still others may note his bad luck 1. Hamilton was a leading critic of the in being sick during the Constitutional Articles of Confederation during the Convention and thus being unable to 1780s. In 1787 he was chosen as a participate fully in the debates. He also member of the New York delegation to retired from politics in 1788. the Constitutional Convention. Though he played a minor role in the debates Handout B—Vocabulary and at Philadelphia, he took the lead in the campaign for ratification in New York. Context Questions In 1787–1788 he joined with Madison 1. Vocabulary and John Jay in writing The Federalist a. colonies Papers, a series of essays supporting b. exist the Constitution. c. located 2. Hamilton pressed for the establish- d. designed ment of a national bank, funding of e. for both the national debt, and assumption of f. dealings state war debts. He also favored a tariff g. members of to protect manufacturing and the cre- h. hurtful ation of a standing army and navy. i. revenue Hamilton wanted to change the basis j. used of wealth in America from land to k. taxing money. Money, he held, was the great l. new idea equalizer. Anyone could amass it and m. hopeless thereby advance up the economic and 2. Context social ladder. a. John Dickinson wrote this 3. Hamilton’s economic plan alarmed document. many who feared government power. b. This document was written in Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson 1768. became the leader of the opposition to c. This is an essay. Hamilton. The first American party d. The audience for this document system formed around these two men. was the colonists and, since it The Federalists supported the Hamil- was read in England, perhaps tonian program. The Democratic- the British government. Republicans (or simply, Republicans) worked for its defeat.

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Answer Key

4. Some students will say that an indus- Handout D—Analysis: Alexander trial society allows people to earn Hamilton and Federalist No. 70 money regardless of land ownership, A. A strong and single executive is the whereas an agrarian society requires most important quality for an effec- that people own land and have the tive government. ability to cultivate it. Other students, 1. It is vital to protecting against on the other hand, may point out that foreign attacks. industrial societies are likely to take 2. It is important for consistent advantage of workers. administration. 5. Some students will say that a stronger 3. It is needed to protect property. federal government is better able to 4. It protects against people with protect individual liberty because it personal desires to overtake. can stop states from abridging citi- 5. It protects against divisive groups. zens’ rights. These students may point 6. It prevents chaos. to federal civil rights legislation and B. Intelligent and respected men approve Jim Crow laws. Others may say that a of a single executive and a legislature strong federal government has more of many. potential to intrude into personal lib- 1. They believe executive power erty by interfering in matters that is most important for “single should rightly be handled by states, or hand.” into those in which no government 2. A legislative body composed of should be involved. many lawmakers is better able to deliberate and gain the con- Handout B—Vocabulary and fidence of the people. Context Questions C. If two or more people share power, 1. Vocabulary arguments are more likely. a. supporters 1. Two equals in power are likely b. active and forceful to be jealous or mistrustful of c. poor each other. d. appropriateness 2. These disputes lessen the dig- e. pacify nity of the government. f. rivalry 3. The community may also split g. hostility along the lines as the h. fearful government. i. uncertain D. Having a large executive is actually a 2. Context threat to liberty. a. Alexander Hamilton wrote this 1. It is safer for the public to have document. only one individual to watch b. This document was written in and guard. 1788. 2. People banded together are bet- c. This document is addressed to ter able to abuse power. The People of the State of New York, but was intended to be read by the country as a whole. d. This document was written to raise support for the Constitution.

Founders and the Constitution: In Their Own Words—Volume 2