The Freeman 1981

the

FreemanVOL. 31, NO.7 • JULY 1981

Curbing Competition Russell Shannon 387Efforts to curb may hurt more than the competition itself.

"Who's in Control of the Country?'~1 Clarence B. Carson 390Who will control the government if individuals lack self-control?

TalentNot so much a gift as an achievement.

Robert E. Hood 399

Book Reviews: 404"The New Right: We're Ready to Lead" by Richard A. Viguerie"Gold, Peace, and Prosperity: The Birth of a New Currency" by RonPaul

The Renewal of LibertyLet us return to first principles.

Paul L. Poirot 409

Virginia Bill of Rights 410As drafted primarily by George Mason and adopted June 12, 1776,a model for other states and the national government.

Declaration of Independence 413July 4, 1776.

The Constitution of the United States 418Submitted September 17, 1787.Declared in effect, March 4, 1789.

The First Ten Amendments 429The Bill of Rights, in force Decernber15, 1791.

Washington's Farewell Address 431Wise counsel to those who woul<j follow the path of liberty.

Constitutional Government-Additional Readings 446

Anyone wishing to communicate with authors may sendfirst-class mail in care of THE FREEMAN for forwarding.

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CurbingCompetition

Russell Shannon

Is competition a good thing? AdamSmith thought so. Back in 1776Smith prescribed heavy doses ofcompetition, believing it to be thebest means to satisfy consumers' vastand varied wants. In some quarterstoday, however, people approachcompetition with a distinct air ofdistaste.

For example, in a recent issue ofSports Illustrated, a spate ofreaders'letters decried the inclination,sometimes found among sports participants, to win at any cost.! Thefamous remark of a well-knowncoach-ttWinning isn't everything;it's the only thing"-quickly springsto mind. For some athletes, achieving points on a scoreboard may become a passion that consumes.

By the same token, some studentswho fail to learn their ABC's, theirmultiplication tables, and theirchemical valences may stoop to anything to get a good grade. If only the

Russell Shannon is a professor in the Department ofEconomics, College of Industrial Management andTextile SCience, Clemson University.

ingenuity devoted to cheating hadbeen applied to learning!

But consider that lament. Noticeits implication: competition clearlyhas a noble edge. Students and athletes can-and usually do-competeby honing their skills. Likewise, inour economy, the competitive driveleads to more production, lowerprices, and novel products. The competitive thrust ofAmerican industryhas endowed us with a veritable cornucopia of attractive goods and services.

If people overlook the many benefits ofcompetition and try to stifle it,they may end up making mattersworse. Examples are abundant:

Consider the effects of OPEC, theinfamous foreign oil cartel. By joining together in a common effort, themember nations cut competition. Asa result, they also managed to raisethe price of oil to extraordinary levels-as any American motorist cantell you! Is·that really admirable?

Such cartels are generally forbidden in the U.S. by our antitrust laws.

388 THE FREEMAN July

Yet we have many means of circumventing their restrictions.

In some cases producers try to limitor even prohibit foreign imports. Because American auto manufacturersfind it hard to compete with Japanese models, they want Japan's producers to reduce their exports. Thatis, they want to curb competition.The result will be higher prices andless choice for American car buyers.Is that really beneficial?

Another common device for curbing competition is the governmentregulatory agency. Examples include the ICC (for railroads andtrucks), the CAB (for airlines), theFCC (for radio and TV stations), andthe FDA (for the drug industry). Ineach case, the agency may have beenset up to protect consumers. But whatconsumers actually got was lesschoice and higher prices.

What's more, under regulationcompetition usually takes on newforms. When airlines could not compete by reducing rates, they resortedto champagne breakfasts for theircustomers and fancy frocks for theirstewardesses. Most passengers wouldprobably have preferred to spend lesson their transportation in order tohave more to spend at their destination.

Nor are programs aimed at curbing competition offered only by government at the federal level. In NewYork City (and elsewhere)· in orderto drive a cab, you must buy a li-

cense. There, in the land of ((free enterprise" and in the very shadow ofthe Statue of Liberty, fewer than12,000 people can obtain taxi licenses. But that limit does not detercompetition: in their desire to drivecabs, people have driven the price oflicenses over $60,OOO!2

Of course, government is not always involved in efforts to curb competition. What happens when laborunions negotiate wage increases withmanagement? They implicitly denyany laborers who would be quitehappy to work for less the opportunity to do SO!3

The motives behind efforts to curbcompetition vary. Sometimes theyare high minded. Environmentalists, deploring the destruction ofnatural beauty by developers andothers who want to cut down timberand build homes, seek to have vastareas set aside and kept in theirpristine state. But to what extent isprotecting trees preferable to usingthem to provide human housing?· Isit fair for environmentalists to denyothers the right to compete for theirshare of nature's resources?

In other instances, the attempt tolimit competition emanates frommotives that are detestable. According to recent reports from the TexasGulf Coast, the Ku Klux Klan hasrallied residents to drive off Vietnamese fishermen-poor immigrants who have earnestly sought tomake an honest living. The Klan's

1981 CURBING COMPETITION 389

purported aim was to reduce competition in the local fishing industry.4 Sad to say, this is but one of themore blatant efforts of groups whichseek to deprive blacks, women, Jews,immigrants, gays, and other minorities of job opportunities-all thewhile claiming shamelessly to bestandard bearers for «patriotism" andcCmorality"!5

No matter what the motive or themechanism, it would seem that efforts to squelch competition can bejust as destructive as competition itself. Attacking the excesses of thecompetitive drive often providespeople an excuse to arrogate forthemselves the right to diminish opportunities for others.

Competition is a common ingredient of our human nature and predicament. The question is notwhether we will compete, but how?This question was addressed by JohnUnderwood in the Sports Illustratedarticle which inspired the lettersmentioned previously.

Underwood quotes former Heisman trophy winner Pete Dawkins assaying, CCto win by cheating, by anumpire error, or by an unfair strokeof fate is not really to win at all."Then Underwood goes on to providean example of truly selfless competition. In the 1964 Winter Olympics,the British bobsled team suddenlyfound itself desperately in need of abolt. The Italian bobsled team generously offered to provide one-and

then the British went on to win thegold medal.6

Isn't that the sort of example thatshould inspire us all? In the end,shouldn't we always try to competeby putting forth our own best effort-that is, by behaving in a waythat dignifies, rather than demeansor denies, our humanity? •

-FOOTNOTES-

lOne correspondent wrote: "I have long believed that losing can be as powerful a teaching tool as winning can." Sports Illustrated,March 9, 1981, p. 82.

2 Joe Mysak, ftTrafficking in Taxis," Barron's,February 23, 1981, pp. 12, 16, 18. The behaviordescribed here has generated interest in whateconomists call "rent-seeking." For furtherdiscussion, see A. O. Krueger, "The PoliticalEconomy of the Rent-Seeking Society," American Economic Review, LXIV (June 1974),291-303; also the chapter on Rent Seeking inRichard B. McKenzie and Gordon Tullock, TheNew World ofEconomics (3rded.; Homewood,IL: Richard D. Irwin, 1981), pp. 242-59.

3 "Just as a legal minimum wage excludessome people from employment opportunities,so a high wage secured by union contract (perhaps under the threat ofa strike, or total withdrawal of labor services) excludes those whowould be willing to work for less." Paul Heyne,The Economic Way of Thinking (3rd ed.; Chicago: Science Research Associates, 1980), p.238.

4 A UPI dispatch to this effect from Santa Fe,'lexas, was published under the title !CVietnamese Feel Hatred of the Klan" in the GreenvilleNews, February 16, 1981, p. 5B.

5 For examples of a rash of recent attacks onJews, see ttAgain, Anti-Semitism," Newsweek,February 16, 1981, pp. 38, 41.

6 John Underwood, "A Game Plan for America," Sports Illustrated, February 23, 1981, p.80.

Clarence B. carson

"Who's in Controlofthe Countly?"

IN the hours immediately followingthe shooting of President Reaganthe TV anchor man on the channelI was watching raised a persistentquestion. He asked it not once butseveral times. ttWho's in control ofthe country?" The question was evenmore pointedly raised at the timethe President was being operated onand presumably anesthetized. At anews conference presided over bySecretary of State Alexander Haigreporters pressed for an answer tothe question of who was in charge.Secretary Haig finally observed, laconically, that he was in control inthe absence of Vice President Bush,who was not yet in Washington. Aconsiderable effort was made bynewsmen to turn this into a Haigflap, but not much came of it.

Dr. carson has written and taught extensively, specializing in American intellectual history. He is the author of several books and a frequent contributor toThe Freeman and other scholarly Journals.

He Is President of the Center for Individual and Family Enterprise, Inc., and may be contacted for furtherInformation at Route 1, Box 13, wadley, Alabama 36276.

'lQO

There was a legitimate question,of course, as to who would make thedecision in the event that some action needed to be taken which wouldordinarily require the approval ofthe President. Mr. Reagan was surelyincapacitated for making decisionsof state at the time, and probablywould remain so for several hours,perhaps longer. Happily, no occasion arose for any momentous decision of state to be made during thisinterval. But if it had, we were assured that the senior officials in theadministration who could have madeit were either assembled for thatpurpose or in .touch with one another.

However, my concern here is notwith the legitimate question as towho would exercise his powers during the temporary incapacity of aPresident. It is the form and mannerof the raising of the question by theanchor man that concerns me. Heasked repeatedly, ttWho's in controlof the country?" There is an unwar-

"WHO'S IN CONTROL OF THE COUNTRY?" 391

ranted assumption-a planted assumption, if you will-in the question. The assumption is that whenMr. Reagan is well he is in controlof the country. (There is no reasonto suppose that Mr. Reagan is guiltyof any such presumption; thus, Iname him only because he was theperson about whom the question wasraised.) This is such a gross misunderstanding ·of the situation andcarries with it so many dangerousimplications that it is worthwhile topursue some of its ramifications.

Granted, the anchor man may havebeen under stress when he asked thequestion. The President and severalof those around him had been shotand their condition was as yet uncertain. It was a dramatic situation,and one in which the news was occurring while it was being telecast,not digested in· advance as occurs inregular newscasts. That this particular anchor man felt the stress andwas at times even distressed was apparent from his manner. He wasshort-tempered sometimes as he answered telephones, listened to andread reports, and attempted to getconfirmation of items that came tohim.

But for two reasons, the· questionshould not be dismissed as merely aproduct of stress. In the first place,the question was not a product of thestress in any obvious way. Therewas presented no information whichindicated that the ((country was out

of controL" There was no evidence ofchaos, domestic insurrection, or portending foreign invasion. The question was reflective, was advancedduring quieter moments, and wasimposed by the newscaster. There isgood reason to believe that if it hadbeen merely a case of carelessphrasing he would have correctedhimself, because he took great carewith his presentation of facts, andcorrected himself several times. Secondly, the idea of the President beingin control of the country did not surface for the first time in this newscast. It has been around in a varietyof forms for a good many years now.There was every indication that theanchor man believed he was posingthe question in its usual and acceptable form.

Control of the Governmenta Complex.Matter

The first time the anchor manposed the question I made a mentalnote that he had made a mistake inthe formulation of it. What he shouldhave asked, I thought, was ((Who'sin control of the government?" Thatwas what he really meant, I thought.On reflection, I can see that eventhat more modest way of framingthe question involves considerableexaggeration and leads to misunderstandings. Actually, no singleperson is in control of the governments in the United States. Even ifthe question were rephrased to ask


who is in control of the Federal government it would be misleading. ThePresident is not in control of theFederal government. He is, nominally at least, in control of the executive branch of the Federal government. Beyond that, he has somepowers touching upon the legislative and judicial branches, but thesehardly extend to ((control."

Actually, authority over and responsibility for-hence, control ofgovernmental activities is dispersedinto many hands in this country.There is not only the separation ofpowers into three branches at thenational level, not only the divisionofpowers between the states and thenational level of government, notonly the assignment ofmany powersto local governments by the states,but also a host of elected and appointed officials at all levels whohave constitutionally or legislatively derived powers.

No One Person in Charge

Perhaps, a simple question andanswer will reveal the travesty involved in even the assumption thatone man is in control of the government. Here is such a question: Whois· in control of the traffic signals inthe town near to me? In the firstplace, the police are undoubtedly incharge of some phases of their operation. They may turn them off andon, alter the timing, override themby placing a policeman at an inter-

section, and so on. The mayor andcouncil not only exercise authorityover the police but also may makecertain decisions about traffic signals. They will ordinarily decidewhich intersections may have atraffic signal, what type of signal itwill be, and, perhaps, how and when .it will be employed. If a state orUnited States highway is involved,the state highway department mayhave a hand in determining if, when,and where traffic signals may be installed. In no sense that I can conceive of could it be said that thePresident is in control of local trafficsignals. The same ca~ be said forvirtually all the operations of government at the state level. Moreover, most operations ofgovernmentat the Federal level are remote fromthe control of the President, eventhose to which his decision-makingpowers extend.

But I understand the anchor manto have been asking a much broaderand more inclusive question thanwho is in control of the government(s), namely, ((Who's in controlof the country?" By my understanding, Hthe country" includes everything within certain geographicalboundaries, i.e., the land and all thestructures thereon, the waters, thepeople, the animals, the plants, andall that personal property which islegally defined as chattels. It is notmy contention, of course, that theword is not sometimes used in more

1981 "WHO'S IN CONTROL OF THE COUNTRY?" 393

limited or figurative senses.·ln ordinary speech, for example, we speakof the country in contrast to the city,as in ((country living." Or, we sing,((My Country 'tis of Thee," which isa poetic way of expressing. our attachment to it, not a means of asserting an exclusive claim upon it.Rather, my point is that by! castingthe question in the form that he did,by stating it prosaically, and by failing to qualify it, the anchor man invited the broadest and most inclusive construction of the word.

Even the Control of PrivateProperty Is Tenuous

Who is in control of ((the country,"then? Let me begin my answer tothis complex question at the localand personal level. It happens thatI own 3.3 acres, more or less, of thecountry, as attested by deeds dulyrecorded. On the day in question,March 30, 1981, so far as anyonecould be said to be in control of thatportion of the country, I was, alongwith my helpmate of a goodly number of years standing. The only potential contestants to this claim, sofar as I am aware, are: (1) a localbank which has a mortgage covering part of the property; (2) a yellowtomcat of uncertain lineage· who, ifmy suspicions are correct, believeshimself to be the proprietor and usthe tenants brought there to servehim; and (3) the residual claims ofthe state should we fail to pay the

taxes or die intestate without heirs.Since the taxes have been paid, themortgage payment is up to date, weare alive, and the cat is among thoseanimals over whom, according toScripture, man is given dominion,our practical control over this smallportion of the United States is forthe moment secure and uncontested.

Even so, my control over thisproperty and its inhabitants and intruders is tenuous at best. I do notmean such limitations on my controlas arise from the right of way accessto my house of electric and telephone wires and the pole located onmy property to convey them. Nordoes it bother me much that theelectric company owns the meter andthe telephone company the telephones.

The real limits of my control areposed by the plant and.. animal lifewhich abound. Theoretically, I couldcontrol the plant life, and I make ahalf-hearted attempt to do so for partof it from time to time. The truth is,however, that on much of the land,trees come up and grow, unbidden,and they are joined in their activityby assorted weeds, vines, bushes,flowers, and what have you. But thatI could assert much control over theanimals which live on and wanderabout my property IS by no meansclear. How does one exercise controlover deer, wild turkeys, snakes, terrapins, rabbits, birds, beetles, ants,bugs, and all the creeping, crawling,


and flying things that put in appearances from time to time? I welcomemany of these and tolerate the restas best I can most of the time.

Millions of Individuals

What I am getting at is this. Muchof the country is not under anybody's control to any considerableextent. All of it, is owned in somefashion by somebody or other and iswithin the jurisdiction of one or moregovernments. Millions of individuals and families and thousands oforganizations exercise more, or 'lesscontrol over the country. By andlarge, they control it as they willand can, but each separate from theother and rarely in ,concert withanyone. The answer to the question,then, is that no one, nor any concertof persons, is in control of the country; millions of people exercisegreater or lesser control over thatportion which is theirs by ownershipor assignment. They were exercising that control when PresidentReagan was shot, while he was anesthetized, and, hopefully, will continue to do so when he is well.

Much of the above is commonknowledge, I suppose, and needs onlyto be recalled to be accepted. Evenso, there is something of value incalling to mind that there is muchthat is under the control of no person, that ownership and control arewidely dispersed in this country, andthat we are limited beings. For my-

self, I believe that life is immeasurably enriched by that about us whichis under no one's control.

I stand in awe and wonder at theseashore and am renewed in spiritto see the waves continually comingin to break upon the beach and recede under no man's command. Thesquirrels which scamper across ouryard to get the chestnuts we haveleft provide more pleasure than ifthey came and went on my call. Idelight more in the random comingand going of the great variety ofbirds that find sustenance on myplace than I ever could if I had themin cages. These things remind methat there is an order which persistsand endures, despite man's feebleattempts at control, and provides intimations of a harmony that is notof man's making.

That would be a good place to conclude my answer. It is upbeat, pleasant, and the last sentences havesomething of the ring of a ,peroration. Unfortunately, however, to endit there would be to ignore seriouspolitical tendencies and developments which underlie the assumption which gave rise to the questionin the first place. It is unlikely thatanyone would ask repeatedly, and ina context of high seriousness, ~~Who's

in control of the country?", if he didnot believe someone should be. Andthe question certainly did not arisein an historical void. Indeed, themovement of ideas and the thrust of


action has been preparing the wayfor the question for three quarters ofa century at least. These developments need to be explored and theirsignificance examined.

The assumption is, of course, thatsomeone should be in control of thecountry. It bespeaks a passion forhaving everything and everyone under some sort of central control, apassion that has been gaining swayfor most. of this century, or longer.The notion that undergirds.this passion for control is that without suchcentral human control chaos, disorder, cupidity, and confusion will takeplace.

A Passion for Control

This passion for control has beenmost pronounced in the economicrealm: control of banking, control ofthe railroads, control of ((trusts,"control of prices, control of electricity, control of the stock market, controis· of farm products, control ofhours of work, control of wages, control of drugs, control of hospitals,control of interstate transport, andso on and on. But it has tended toinvade every realm of activity: formal education, the practice ofmedicine, international relations (e. g.,the formation of the League of Nations and United Nations), environmental controls, pollution controls,and such like.

The main thrust of this passionfor control has been the centraliza-

tion of power in the Federal government and its concentration in theexecutive branch. It is this development which gives such logic as ithas to the question, ((Who's in control of the country?" when the President is temporarily incapacitated.What this conjures up in my mind isa scenario in which the Oval Officeis equipped with a huge consolewhich has wires running to everyplace in the country. When the President flips one switch it sets off adesignated kind of activity in thecountry. When he flips other switchesother kinds of activity can and dotake place. Presumably, the President alone knows the combinationto the console, and when he is incapacitated, either chaos or inactivitymay become universal. In any case,the question conveys to me a conception of .concentrated and unlimitedgovernment.

This conception of the presidency,however it may be visualized, isdangerous for the safety and wellbeing of presidents. It is ironic thatthe same anchor man who raised thequestion also lamented the fact, several times, that yet another attempthad been made on the life ofa President. Apparently, it did not occur tohim that by implying that the President is normally in control of thecountry he was continuing to set thestage for such attempts. After all, ifthe President were in control of thecountry, what better target could be


selected for dramatizing a cause, expressing one's hatred for America,or even for the revolutionary conquest of the country?

I have already madec1ear, I hope,that the President is not in controlof the country. Even so, the centralization and concentration of powerthat has taken place has been inthat direction. The United Statesgovernment was founded as a limited government, even a strictlylimited government. The thrust toextend the control of the Federalgovernment is in the direction ofunlimited governments.

Constitutional Limits

The United States government waslimited in the following ways andaccording to these principles. Themost basic limits are in the Constitution itself. To have a constitutional government is synonymouswith having limited government, atleast to Americans, for the Constitution specifies limits. The powers ofthe central government are enumerated. Certain powers are specificallydenied to the United States. Allpowers not enumerated are reservedto the states or to the people respectively. All legislative power conveyed is vested in the Congress; thejudicial power is vested in the Supreme Court and such inferior courtsas are established by law; and theexecutive power is vested in thePresident and the officers who serve

under him. This division into threebranches conforms to the doctrine ofthe separation of powers and haslong been considered a fundamentalprinciple of limited government.

Actually, the three branches areintertwined. The Congress not onlymakes the laws but also participatesin some executive decisions. For example, the Senate must concur inmajor presidential appointments before they have legal standing. Allexecutive action depends upon monies which must first be appropriatedby Congress. Federal judges are appointed by the President with theadvice and consent of the Senate.The power to enforce court orderslies in the executive branch whichcontrols the military forces andmarshals. This intertwining has ledto questions both as to the extent ofthe separation of powers and of theindependence of the branches.Clearly, the branches are not entirely separate from one another, norare they wholly independent in theiroperations. But much of the limitation upon them lies in· the fact thatthey are intertwined. The Senate,for example, limits the President byits potential negative vote over hisappointments. The President canlimit the legislature by way of theveto. The courts can refuse to applyunconstitutional laws, and so forth.

The Constitution limits the statesas well. They are prohibited to docertain things, such as, make any-


thing other than gold or silver legaltender, and their jurisdiction is limited as well. States are required tohave republican governments, andthey too operate under constitutionswhich limit them in their. actions.County and city (town, village, borough, or what not) governments arecreatures of the states, and henceare limited by them in what theycan do.

Other Restraints and Limits

There are many other limitationson·the powers of the various·governments. They are all bound to observe the laws in dealing with theinhabitants. There· are prescribedprocedures to he complied with before life, liberty, or property may betaken away. Elected officials arelimited by the necessity of having tostand for election from time to time.Jaines Madison argued in The Federalist # 10 that the· broad expanseof the country, the numerous interests contained within it, and territorial· dispersion of each interestwould make it difficult, if not impossible, for anyone interest or combination of interests to gain control ofthe government. In short, the verycontentions for power that would exist would tend to limit the reach ofgovernments. Quite often that hasbeen the case.

Even so, many of the limits thatonce held governments in check havebeen evaded, trespassed, and in con-

siderable measure overcome. Themain developments have been thesubordination of the states and theconcentration of power in Washington. This change has been accomplished in many ways: the extensionof the regulation of. interstate commerce provision to include virtuallyevery kind of trade and commerce,the assumption of authority over labor relations, the taking of controlover banking and the money supply,and the intrusion of the Federalcourts into such areas as law enforcement in general. The main device, however, for subordination ofstate and local governments has beenby way of grants for programs tothese entities. State control over local governments has been greatlyimpaired as local undertakings havebeen subsidized in one way or another by Federal grants. Much ofthestate control over education has comeunder the authority of the Federalcourts. Revenue sharing, in the lastdecade, has greatly accelerated allthese processes.

The main point, however, is theexpansion of governmental controlover the lives of the populace entailed in these developments. Thecase for tcstates' rights," as such,concerns me here only so far as it isa part of the case for limited government. Control over the lives of thecitizens by a state government wouldbe no more desirable than control bythe central government. But such

398 THE FREEMAN

control is inherently limited in thefederal system. A state cannot raisean army and wage war, for example,because not only is it prohibited bythe Constitution but it would notlikely be tolerated by the centralgovernment. Moreover, any statewhich expands its controls in comparison with those prevailing inother states would invite the exodusof the oppressed populace, and stateslike the means to prevent this.

Freedom without Controls

Which brings us to the final, andcentral, point of this essay. Governmental control over the lives of thepeople is violative of their rightsand liberties. Freedom is the antithesis of governmental control. Thebirds which fly onto and light on myproperty are free precisely becauseI do not control them. The squirrelsthat scamper about my place insearch of nuts are free because I donot control them. True, human freedom has other dimensions than suchas animals may enjoy; it is moreconfined in the physical realm thantheirs and has mental and spiritualdimensions unknown to them. Butin both cases control is antitheticalto it. Undoubtedly, our activities arebounded by the property and otherrights of others, and we may be committed by contract in certain waysto others, but these, rightly understood and acted upon, are limits, notcontrols.

UWho's in control of the country?"is a question with totalitarian implications. I do not know that theanchor man who asked it eithermeant any such thing or understoodit in that way. Most likely, he didnot. But words are independent ofthe intent of the speaker, once spoken. Thus, if anyone is in control ofthe country, his powers over it mustbe without limit. It follows, too, thatthe inhabitants are not free. The assumptions underlying our unguarded expressions inform ourdeeds. They are a key to the direction in which we are inclined to go,just as they have become assumptions because we have already takenthat heading. We tend to becomewhat we believe especially when thebelief has become so imbedded inour thought that we are no longeraware of it.

It is surely high time to bring thegovernment of the United Statesunder control, to limit and restrainit to its historic and constitutionalrole. There are signs that PresidentReagan is committed to accomplishing that goal. The relevant question,the one that occurred to me in thosefirst fearful moments after I hadheard that he was shot, was this:ttWho will control the government?"As for ttWho's in control of the country?", all who value freedom will relish the hope that those who livethere are in control of themselvesand their lives. i

How MANY TIMES have we stood before a fine painting and heard aviewer say, ((That artist certainlyhas talent. But I can't even draw astraight line!" Well, there probablywas a time when the artist also couldnot tteven draw a straight line." Butbetween that time and the completion of that fine painting, he drew agreat many straight lines, alsocurved lines, light lines, dark lines,every conceivable kind of line. Heexploited his particular interest andaptitudes to the fullest in the attempt to develop his talent. Few daysprobably passed when he did not devote some time or effort to improving his talent.

Nobody dashes off a masterpieceon a whim between breakfast andMr. Hood, a businessman in Meredith, New Hampshire, formerly served in the State Legislature.

Robert E. Hood

Talent

an early lunch. To draw even a simple leaf well, a painter will producemore leaves than a tree. He learnsto ttsee" a leaf as the average personcannot. The price of talent is highindeed, a price few of us are willingto pay. I don't accept the popular,mystical concept with its implication that talent is inborn in the genesof a fortunate few, that it is an innate ttseed," that must inevitablyburst forth as excellence in someparticular field. I refuse to believethat one either has talent, or onedoesn't, and that there is no use intrying. Talent, as I define it, is thecomplex of abilities people will develop in a climate of freedom whenthey are not hampered in pursuingtheir personal goals..Talent is theoutcome of six prerequisites: (1)

physical aptitudes, (2) intellectual


capacity, (3) environmental influences, (4) perseverance or drive, (5)mental perception or approach and(6) interest. Let us consider each inturn.

Physical aptitude is perhaps theleast important of the six prerequisites. Let it be sufficient to saythat body size, weight, structuraldetail, and the like can be factors. Ifone's voice has all the charm of arusty wheel on a gravel path, one isill-advised to pursue a singing career. A person who stands 4 feet 8inches tall and weighs 93 pounds,will not likely excel in professionalcontact sports. Physical limitationsexist, though even they may largelybe overcome by perseverance in thedevelopment of the other five prerequisites.

Intellectual capacity is to someextent Hgiven," but perhaps notnearly to the extent that people believe. We are obviously not all bornwith equal intellectual capacity. Thatis fortunate indeed. If we all aspiredto become profound philosophers, wewould surely all be very hungry philosophers. Those of us born withoutsuperior intellectual capacity shouldnot try to emulate Einstein. We mustrealistically recognize our intellec'7tuallimitations with regard to brainpower, but without stifling the development of our own potential.Much of what is considered limited,

innate intellectual ability is merelydue to lack of interest, drive or perseverance.

Environmental influences mayencourage or discourage the development of talent. Consider two persons· of equal intellectual capacity,one raised by illiterate parents in adismal shack where the only goalsin life are minimal survival and leisure, the other raised by educatedparents in a well kept home, surrounded by books, music, suitableplaythings and an atmosphere of intellectual curiosity. The talents developed as reflections of these environmental influences would seemobvious. But they will not always beprecisely those anticipated. Environmental influences may be expressed indirectly or by deviousroutes. A brief encounter as a childwith a particular toy, book or ideamay lie dormant only to stimulatean interest many years later. Theseeds of interest and perseverancein the pursuit of talent, which areusually planted in our formativeyears, may even be spurred by opposite examples.

By maturity, our physical aptitudes, intellectual capacity and environmental influences are prettymuch established. Concern withthem then should be primarily tomaintain and upgrade them to thebest ofour ability. It is here that the

1981 TALENT 401

fourth prerequisite for ((talent"-perseverance or drive--comes intoplay. In spite of the fact that mostpeople seem to believe one eitherhas talent or one doesn't, I maintainthat the potential for talent abidesin most of us. To digress for a moment, I distinguish talent from ((genius." I define genius as that veryrare combination of superior physical and intellectual capacity, combined with a profound interest in aspecialized, narrow field,· which permits some few especially endowedpersons to accomplish prodigiousamounts, occasionally at a very earlyage. They are the innovators andpace setters in their areas of specialization. But even the developmentor fulfillment of ((genius" requiresperseverance. As Thomas Edisonpointed out, genius is ((one percentinspiration and ninety-nine· percentperspiration." Olympic contenderspersevere with supreme. dedicationto a self-imposed regime in order toattain a specific goal. Those of uswho are not so one-goal oriented,however, should not let. the prodigious accomplishments of a true genius discourage us from perseveringto develop whatever potential talents we may have in one or severalfields.

Mental perception or approachis perhaps the most indefinite of theprerequisites for developing talent.But it is no less important. What

William James said of genius, thatit was ((little more than the facultyofperceiving in an unhabitual way,"might also b~ said of talent. As amatter of fact, it is ((the faculty ofperceiving in an unhabitual way"which sets· those persons, who bestsucceed in developing their talents,apart from almost anyone else. Mostof us are creatures of tradition andhabit, victims of a self-imposed lethargic state of mind. We tend to accept the obvious or the plausiblewithout asking ((Why."

Few of us question the reasons forour actions. We all know, or are capable of knowing, much more thanwe realize. We tend to be blinded, toour own disadvantage, by the obvious, by Uwhat is seen." Few of usrecognize Uwhat is not seen." Thenineteenth century French economist and philosopher, Frederic Bastiat, illustrated this point in a shortpiece, uThe Broken Window." He described a young hoodlum who brokea window. All observers, with oneaccord, considered the financial boonthis would mean to the glass industry. Blinded by Uwhat is seen," theyfailed to consider ((what is not seen,"the owner's forgone purchase of anew pair of shoes because he mustpay the glazier. The mental perception which enables one to thinkthings through, to consider morethan Uwhat is seen," to integrateavailable knowledge, to approachproblems in new and different ways,


is an attribute of talent that is derived from the combination of inborn, innate characteristics plus application and perseverance.

We all perceive things with thesame sense organs. But many of usfail to integrate our observations.We are like cameras or tape recorders, absorbing and reproducingvisual and verbal images, preciselyas observed, but failing to integrate,analyze or interpret them. The development of talent requires an approach of mental awareness or intellectual curiosity, so as to integrateperceptions and concepts. It calls fortrying to analyze ((what is not seen,"for looking at things uin an unhabitual way."

The talented painter perceives alandscape far differently than mostof us. The novice who is seeking todevelop his talent must not onlyperfect his physical aptitude, expand his intellectual capacity, butalso develop. the uunhabitual" perception of an artist. The talentedmusician listens to a symphony andperceives nuances and subtleties ofcomposition, while most of us justhear a melody. The talented actorperceives in the performances of hiscomrades every movement, facialexpression and voice inflection, integrating them into his own store ofknowledge, while the rest of us justenjoy the play. A talented writer hasspent years reading, writing, studying and practicing that skill, with

that same intense quality of specialized perception and integration.

Mark Twain once observed,. ((thedifference between the right wordand the almost right word is reallya large matter-'tis the differencebetween the lightning bug and thelightning." One of the finest piecesof American writing is the Declaration of Independence. One has onlyto view a copy ofJefferson's originalmanuscript, with its corrections andalterations, to know that even inmost inspired moments a well written essay is the result of perseverance. Words seldom flow in an uninterrupted stream of perfection. Thewriter must call on his store ofknowledge, gleaned previously fromall he has read, written, thought,judged and assimilated into his totalconsciousness. His talent rests onthe quality ofhis mental warehouse,his faculty of perception,his abilityto create with it, and his willingnessto persevere.None of these remainsstatic for any individual.

The sixth prerequisite for talentis interest. Interest is at the sametime both a prerequisite of the otherfive and a product of the other five.It is in one sense ~(given" and it isalso the outcome of innate aptitudes, environment, concentrationand perseverance. Interest, whatever its source, is what helps spurus on to persevere, and to concentrate with a sort of tunnel vision on

1981 TALENT 403

a special field. It is interest thatmakes us want to keep on expanding ability, perception, and talent.

The foundation of talent in anyfield is the sum of past accomplishments and of all of today's knowledge and wisdom. In each generation those who develop their talentsadd a few more bricks to this structure of intellectual, artistic andtechnological heritage. But unlike abuilding, this construct is never finished. The potential of free men forthe development oftalent would seemalmost infinite. The higher we build.,the wider the view. The more welearn, the more we realize how littlewe know. True though this·may be,it by no means implies futility in thelearning process, for the more welearn, the more we find we are capable of learning. The more we persevere in trying to develop our talents, the more perceptive we becomlBand the broader are the horizons wesee.

We all have interests. We all havea certain amount of intellectual curiosity. We are all capable ofputtingforth some physical and mental effort. Hence we all have the potentialfor talent in something-be it thetrades, sales, teaching, science, art,and so on, or some combination ofthese. Talent is most emphaticallynot a gift; it is an achievement!

Joy and satisfaction are to be foundin expanding knowledge, developingtalent and accomplishing more. Bycultivating a free society in whichambition is encouraged and thismental attitude can flourish we willfind that, with the application of effort and perseverance, talent will bewithin our grasp. If we are free topursue our own peaceful interests,we may expect to contribute something to posterity by adding a brickor two to the structure of intellectual, artistic and technical heritagethat will be available to those whofollow. i

IDEAS ON

LIBERTY

Freedom and Maturity

THE QUEST for freedom is not simply a thing added on, as dictators andbureaucrats seem to assumLe, or even one of the luxuries of integrity. Itis part and parcel of the stuff of which human life is made, built inthrough a hundred million years of evolution, a million years of prehistory, thousands of years of history. When the circumstances of aman's life deprive him of freedom, they also deprive him of sanity andmaturity for which he was born. Without freedom he cannot build upand toughen those inner resources which give him the flexibility andinitiative so necessary for the give and take of life.

STEPHEN B. MILES, JR.

A REVI·EWER'S NOTEBOOK JOHN CHAMBERLAIN

The New Right

IDEAS, said the late Richard Weaver,have consequences. But, when itcomes to working their way throughsociety, it normally takes at least ageneration for ideas to flower in effective action.

Richard A. Viguerie, who runs amost successful computerized directmail solicitation company, is an action man. He figures his time hasnow come. The main emphasis of hisbook, The New Right: We~re Readyto Lead (Caroline House, 186 pp.,$8.95), which has an introduction byMoral Majoritarian Rev. Jerry Falwell, is on the art ofpiecing togetheran action-dominated coalition to winelections and undo the past halfcentury of bad lawmaking. Yet it isthe mark of Viguerie's intelligencethat he mentions Richard Weaverquite early in the book.

404

Viguerie is history-minded as wellas action-dominated. It is a goodcombination, for it provides reassurance that the actions of the so-calledNew Right will be soberly considered, both for pacing and for placement in a scheme of priorities. TheNew Right is hungry for a lot ofthings, such as action on the nsocialissues" of abortion, prayer in theschools and ((pro-family" legislation,but it isn't asking the President orCongress to derail the big issues ofinflation, taxation, the money supply and the need to confront Sovietexpansion, which have obvious priority if we are to continue at all as afree society.

I like Mr. Viguerie's book becauseit tells a lot of new things about thecurrent organization of conservativeand libertarian groups in Washing-

THE NEW RIGHT 405

ton and around the country withoutignoring their historic antecedents.In telling the story of his. own genesis Viguerie shows how the NewRight evolved out of the Old Right.He began by taking a job with YoungAmericans for Freedom in the earlyNineteen Sixties, working withMarvin Liebman on money-raising.He called on people like oil man J.Howard Pew, former New Jerseygovernor Charles Edison and Captain Eddie Rickenbacker for contributions' and found them affably disposed. But, as a shy person, he didnot feel comfortable in asking formoney directly. He started writingletters instead, and so discovered histrue metier. He has been at it eversince.

Libertarian and ConservativeFoundations of the New Right

The early contacts with BillRusher, Bill Buckley and MarvinLiebman in New York gave Viguerie, who began his political lifeas an Eisenhower supporter in Texas,some ideas about the nascent conservative movement. In an appreciative chapter called ~~The Foundations of the New Right" Vigueriepays homage to a whole host of earlylibertarians and conservatives, frornHuman Events publisher FrankHanighen and National Review editor Bill Buckley to Russell Kirk,Frank Meyer, Frank Chodorov,Whittaker Chambers, Milton Friedl-

man, Stanton Evans, CongressmanWalter Judd and others.

His ideas were well in order before he realized that his mission inlife was to take libertarianism andconservatism out of the talking stage.There were coalitions to be madethat would transform the Goldwaterminority of 1964 into the Reaganmajority of 1980. But first there mustcome a mastery of techniques making use of the communication marvels of the electronic age, beginningwith the computer, the Xerox machine, radio and TV itself.

Viguerie began his direct mailbusiness in 1965 in the most laborious way, with one employee and acontributor list of 12,500 names. Hegot 'the list by going to the Clerk ofthe House of Representatives, whohad on file the names and addressesof everybody who had given $50 ormore to the Goldwater campaign.The law would not permit anyone tomake a photo copy of the list, so Viguerie started writing names andaddresses down by hand. After acouple of weeks during which hisfingers became numb he hired several women to finish the job for him.Without this list, he says, he wouldn'tbe in business today.

Curiously, Senator George McGovern beat Viguerie to the punchin realizing the potency of directmail. But McGovern had other thingsto do where Viguerie could spendeighty hours a week on his spe-


cialty. The first big Viguerie feescame from a direct mail campaign toraise enough money to pay AlabamaGovernor George Wallace's politicaldebts. Wallace seemed .more Populist than conservative to Viguerie,who was still looking for an activistmovement on which to spend his enthusiasm along with the money hehad already earned.

The search for a second generation of conservatives-the true NewRight-led Viguerie to people whosenames are still not widely known toreaders of the so-called Establishment press. This second generationincludes Paul Weyrich, HowardPhillips, Terry Dolan, Lee Edwards,Morton Blackwell, Alan Gottlieb,Reed Larson, Edwin Feulner, DanPopeo, Lew Uhler and David Denholm. Weyrich heads the Committeefor the Survival of a Free Congress,Dolan is the energizing spirit ofNCPAC, or ((Nicpac" which is shortfor the National Conservative Political Action Committee. Reed Larsonis the indefatigable boss of the Rightto Work Committee.

Common Interests Leadto a Winning Combination

Together, the New Rightists began to meet for informal luncheons.They had four things in common.The first was a belief in technicalability-direct mail and mass media manipulation. The second was awillingness to work for each other's

ideas without discrimination. Thethird was a conviction that philosophy must always come before party.And the fourth was an unquenchable optimism that a Fabianism-inreverse campaign would ultimatelyturn America away from collectivistdelusions.

Using direct mail in unprecedented fashion, the New Right hasrun off an impressive list of victories. Viguerie and his friends couldn'tstop the treaty that gave away thePanama Canal. But the ·campaignthey fought to keep the canal brought.Ronald Reagan back into public consciousness in a way that made his1980 presidential nomination inevitable. Terry Dolan's NCPAC wrote10,000 leading Republicans urgingthem to tell Senator Howard Bakerthat a pro-treaty vote would end hispresidential hopes. Howard Phillips'Conservative Caucus· mailed threemillion letters on the canal issue.This stirring of the waters was instrumental in creating majoritiesthat have changed the whole complexion of the United States Senate.The first-time Senatorial winners forthe New Right came in 1978, whenGordon Humphrey beat long-timeincumbent Tom McIntyre in NewHampshire, Bill Armstrong won inColorado, John Warner in Virginiaand Alan Simpson in Wyoming. In1980 came even more impressivevictories, with New Right candidates ousting McGovern, Frank

1981 OTHER BOOKS 407

Church, Birch Bayh and other oldwheel horses of the Left.

Coalition building by direct mailcommunication is at the bottom ofthe Viguerie success. When the Reverend Jerry Falwell brought hisMoral Majority to Viguerie's side, itassured Reagan of his election. NowViguerie is worried by Reagan'sfailure to appoint more New Rightists to high office. The failure won'tmake any practical difference: TheLeft has run out of galvanizing ideas,and Reagan will insist on his oV\rntax and budget cutting· program.s.The important thing for Viguerieand the New Right is that they areten years ahead of the Left in organizational ability-and in the possession of key mailing lists.

GOLD, PEACE, AND PROSPERITY:THE BIRTH OF A NEW CURRENCYby Congressman Ron Paul(The Foundation for Rational Economicsand Education, Inc., ~O. Box 1776,Lake Jackson, Texas 77566),198155 pages - $5.00 paperback

Reviewed by Roger Ream

EFFORTS to restore a gold standardare gaining momentum. The 1984prohibition of the private ownershipof gold was repealed in 1974. Threeyears later, gold clause contractswere legalized. In 1979, a bill to revoke the Treasury's power to seize

privately held gold passed in theHouse of Representatives. And, in1980, both Houses of Congress approved an amendment to establish agold commission, which will examine the role of gold in monetary affairs.

The sponsor of the successful goldcommission amendment was Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. He isone of the leaders of the effort to establish a redeemable gold dollar andwill serve on the commission alongwith public and private sector representatives. In an effort to clarifythe issues involved and add somehistorical insights to the current debate, Congressman Paul has writtena booklet that is clear, elemental,and enlightening. As he demonstrates' ((The consequences of monetary destruction are complex, butthe solution is not."

Congressman Paul outlines thesteps that must be taken to movefrom a government fiat money system which is headed toward disaster, to a system of honest, free market money. He also refutes some ofthe commonly raised objections to agold standard. One such assertion isthat there is not enough gold to return to a 100% redeemable-in-golddollar. Dr. Paul quotes ProfessorHans Sennholz: (1n a free marketeconomy it is utterly irrelevant whatthe total stock of money should be.Any given quantity renders the fullservices and yields the maximum

408 THE FREEMAN

utility of a medium of exchange....When the stock is relatively large,the purchasing power of individualunits of money will be relativelysmall. Conversely, when the stock issmall, the purchasing power of theindividual units will be relativelylarge. No wealth can be created andno economic growth can be achievedby changing the quantity of the medium of exchange. It is so obviousand yet so obscured by the speciousreasoning of special interest spokesmen that the printing ofanother tonof paper money does not create newwealth."

Inflation is an increase in thequantity of money. It is legalizedtheft by a means similar to counterfeiting. A small increase in thequantity of money, even if intendedto just match the increase in productivity or the economic growth rate~~inevitably introduces malinvestment as those getting the new moneyput it to uses that only later recessions show to have been unproductive." Free market competition inmoney gives the people, not the politicians, power over the monetarysystem. It is ~~a free people's ultimate protection from spendthrift anduntrustworthy government."

As this booklet makes clear, ~~[t]he

road to monetary destruction hasbeen long and circuitous, but we arecoming to the end of it. Sixty-sevenyears of central banking havebrought us to the edge of depressionand hyperinflation. . .. [However,the] alternative to today's monetaryfraud and tomorrow's chaos is readily available to us.... The spirit offreedom, and the desire for honestmoney, still run strongly among ourpeople."

History provides many examplesof governments of all types destroying the monetary unit through uncontrolled inflation. History alsoteaches that the only means yet discovered to harness the natural tendency of governments to debase thecurrency is a monetary system whichis backed by a commodity. Over thecenturies, countless societies haveselected gold as that commodity.However, the particular commoditychosen is of little importance provided the decision is the result of anunhampered market process.

Congressman Paul's efforts to further the consideration of a new currency are crucial because as thisbooklet reveals, freedom cannot longexist without honest money. i

Paul L. Poirot

THE RENEWAL OF LIBERTY

TODAv's more immediate problems of high taxes, inflation, regulations andcontrols all come under the one cornmon heading of government intervention. So, what is one to do to regain or restore lost freedom of choice andaction?

Actions vary, of course, tending more and more toward open revolt: arefusal to file any tax return at all or else incomplete or fraudulent reporting; black_market and underground transactions; tax shelters and loopholes; above all, the flagrant tactics of terror and violence so much in thedaily news.

The problem is not the same for any two of us, and the solution mostsuitable to one may not please another. We are individuals. But in a sensewe are all in the same boat. We are members of a trading economy, greatlydependent upon one another. And it is not that simple or easy to pull outand go it alone in anarchistic fashion-in what a majority generally perceives as antisocial behavior.

Today's situation is somewhat like that faced by the American colonistsin the late 1700s in their break with England. So it well behooves us toreview the principles of limited government and of human rights identifiedand upheld in such historic documents as the Virginia Bill of Rights,adopted June 12, 1776. Shortly thereafter, on July 4, came the historicDeclaration of Independence with its revolutionary ideas on liberty and theensuing battlefield confrontation.

The problem then, and perhaps the problem always, is not to abolishgovernment entirely, but to curb its tyrannous aspects. Independence fromBritain called for governmental reorganization, first under the Articles ofConfederation in 1777, to be updated and replaced by the Constitution of1787 and especially the first ten anlendments or the Bill of Rights adoptedDecember 15,1791.

Perhaps most helpful of all today is the wise counsel offered in GeorgeWashington's Farewell Address of September 17, 1796.

The experiences at the founding of the American republic afford guidancesorely needed in our search for a renewal of liberty in our time.

409

VIRGINIABILL OF RIGHTS

Article IBill of Rights

A declaration of rights made by the representatives of the good peopleof Virginia, assembled in full and free convention; which rights dopertain to them and their. posterity, as the basis and foundation ofgovernment.

1. That all men are by natureequally free and independent, andhave certain inherent rights, ofwhich, when they enter into a stateof society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely the enjoyment of lifeand liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, andpursuing and obtaining happinessand safety.

2. That all power is vested in, andconsequently derived from, the peo-

pIe; that magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all timesamenable to them.

3. That government is, or ought tobe, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of thepeople, nation, or community; of allthe various modes and forms of government, that is best which is capable of producing the greatest degreeof happiness and safety, and is mosteffectually secured against the danger of maladministration; and that

VIRGINIA BILL OF RIGHTS 411

when any government shall be foundinadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the communityhath an indubitable, unalienable,and indefeasible right to·reform, a.lter, or abolish it, in such manner asshall be judged most conducive tothe public weal.

4. That no man, or set of men, areentitled to exclusive or separateemoluments or privileges from thecommunity, but in consideration ofpublick services; which, not beingdescendible, neither ought the offices of magistrate, legislator, orjudge to be hereditary.

5. That the legislative and executive powers of the state should beseparate and distinct from the judliciary; and that the members of thetwo first may be restrained fro:moppression, by feeling and participating the burthens of the people,they should, at fixed periods, be reduced to a private station, returninto that body from which they wereoriginally taken, and the vacanciesbe supplied by frequent, certain, andregular elections, in which all orany part of the former members tobe again eligible or ineligible, as thelaws shall direct.

6. That elections of members toserve as representatives of the people in assembly ought to be free; andthat all men having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to thecommunity, have the right of suf-

George Mason (1725-1792)

Revolutionary leatkr, autlwr of VirginiaDeclamtion ofRights, delegate to Constitutionnl Conwntion.

Courtesy, Independence National HistoriJ:al Fbrk.

frage, and cannot be taxed or deprived of their property for publickuses, without their own consent, orthat of their representatives soelected, nor bound by any law towhich they have not, in like manner, assented for the public good.

7. That all power of suspendinglaws or the execution of laws by anyauthority, without consent of therepresentatives of the people, is injurious to their rights, and ought notto be exercised.

412 THE FREEMAN

8. That in all capital or criminalprosecutions a man hath a right todemand the cause and nature of hisaccusation, to be confronted with theaccusers and witnesses, to call forevidence in his favor, and to a speedytrial by an impartial jury, of his vicinage' without whose unanimousconsent he cannot be found guilty;nor can he be compelled to give evidence against himself; that no manbe deprived of his liberty,except bythe law of the land or the judgmentof his peers.

9. That excessive bail ought not tobe required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

10. That general warrants,whereby an officer or messenger maybe commanded to search suspectedplaces without evidence of a factcommitted, or to seize any person orpersons not named, or whose offenceis not particularly described andsupported by evidence, are grievousand oppressive, and ought not begranted.

11. That in controversies respecting propertY,and in suits betweenman and man, the ancient trial byjury is preferable to any other, andought to be held sacred.

12. That the freedom of the pressis one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrainedbut by despotic governments.

13. That a well-regulated militia,composed of the body of the peopletrained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defence of a free State;that standing armies in time of peaceshould be avoided as dangerous toliberty; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to and governed by the civilpower.

14. That the people have a rightto uniform government; and, therefore, that no government separatefrom or independent of the government of Virginia ought to be erectedor established within the limitsthereof.

15. That no free government, orthe blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firmadherence to justice, moderation,temperance, frugality and virtue, andby frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.

16. That religion, or the duty whichwe owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directedonly by reason and conviction, notby force or violence; and, therefore,all men are equally entitled to thefree exercise ofreligion, according tothe dictates of conscience; and thatit is the mutual duty of all to practise Christian forbearance, love., andcharity towards each other.

-Adopted June 12,1776

DECLARATIONOF~

INI)EPENDENCE

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of thethirteen united States of America

WHEN in the Course of humanevents, it becomes necessary for onepeople to dissolve the political bandswhich have connected them withanother, and to assume. among thePowers of the earth, the separateand equal station to which the Lawsof Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to theopinions of mankind requires thatthey should declare the causes whichimpel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to beself-e~v

ident, that all men are created equal,that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,that among these are Life, Libertyand the pursuit of Happiness. Thatto secure these rights, Governmentsare instituted among Men, deriving

their just powers from the consent ofthe governed, That whenever anyForm of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Rightof the People to alter or to abolish it,and to institute new Government,laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers insuch form, as to them shall seemmost likely to effect their Safety andHappiness. Prudence, indeed, willdictate that Governments long established should not be changed forlight and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown,that mankind are more -disposed tosuffer, while evils are sufferable,than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of

413


abuses and usurpations, pursuinginvariably the same Object evincesa design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, itis their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guardsfor their future security. Such hasbeen the patient sufferance of theseColonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to altertheir former Systems of Government. The history ofthe present Kingof Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, allhaving in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny overthese States. To prove this, let Factsbe submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws,the most wholesome and necessaryfor the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors topass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended intheir operation till his Assent shouldbe obtained; and when so suspended,he has utterly neglected to attend tothem.

He has refused to pass other Lawsfor the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those peoplewould relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, aright inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislativebodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the

TOOmas Jefferson, member of th£ Committee of Congress woo lIDS charged with theactual writing of th£ Declamtwn.

sole purpose of fatiguing them intocompliance with his measures.

He has dissolved RepresentativeHouses repeatedly, for opposing withmanly firmness his invasions on therights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause othersto be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People atlarge for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposedto all the dangers of invasion fromwithout, and convulsions within.

He has. endeavoured to preventthe population of these States; forthat purpose obstructing the Lawsfor Naturalization of Foreigners; re-

1981 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 415

Public reading oftJreDeclaration oflrukperukTl£e, Boston.

fusing to pass otherS to encouragetheir migration hither, and raisingthe conditions of new Appropria.tions of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing hisAssent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent onhis Will alone, for the tenure oftheiroffices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of Ne,~Offices, and sent hither swarms ofOfficers to harrass our People, andeat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times ofpeace, Standing Armies without theConsent ofour legislature.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior tothe Civil Power.

He has combined with others tosubject us to a jurisdiction foreign toour constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies ofarmed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mockTrial, from Punishment for anyMurders which they should commiton the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with allparts of the. world:

For imposing Taxes on us withoutour Consent:


For depriving us in many cases, ofthe benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seasto be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System ofEnglish Laws in a neighbouringProvince, establishing therein anArbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render itat once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters,abolishing our most valuable Laws,and altering fundamentally theForms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for usin all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Governmenthere, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns,and destroyed the Lives of our people.

He is at this time transportinglarge Armies of foreign Mercenariesto compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begunwith circumstances of Cruelty &perfidy scarcely paralleled in themost barbarous ages, and totallyunworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seasto bear Arms against their Country,

to become the executioners of theirfriends and Brethren, or to fallthemselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitantsofour frontiers, the merciless IndianSavages, whose known rule· of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Ourrepeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. APrince, whose character is thusmarked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the rulerof a free People.

Nor have We been wanting in attention to our British brethren. Wehave warned them from time to timeof attempts by their legislature toextend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded themof the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We haveappealed to their native justice andmagnanimity, and we have conjuredthem by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations;which would inevitably interrupt ourconnections and correspondence.They too have been deaf to the voiceof justice and of consanguinity. Wemust, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold

1981 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 417

the rest ofmankind, Enemies in War,in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judgeof the world for the rectitude of ourintentions, do, in the Name, and byAuthority of the good people of theseColonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Coloniesare, and of Right ought to be Freeand Independent States; that theyare Absolved from all Allegiance tothe British Crown, and that all po-

litical connection between them andthe State of Great Britain, is andought to be totally dissolved; andthat as Free and Independent States,they have full Power to levy War,conclude Peace, contract Alliances,establish Commerce, and to do allother Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. Andfor the support of this Declaration,with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives,our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

John Hancock

New Hampshire Pennsylvania VirginiaJosiah Bartlett' Robt. Morris George WytheWm. Whipple Benjamin Rush Richard Henry LeeMatthew Thornton Benj. Franklin Th. Jefferson

John Morton Benj. HarrisonRhode Island Geo. Clymler Ths. Nelson, Jr.Step. Hopkins Jas. Smith Francis Lightfoot LeeWilliam Ellery Geo. Taylor Carter Braxton

James WilsonConnecticut Geo. Ross North CarolinaRoger Sherman Wm. HooperSam'el Huntington Massachusetts Bay Joseph HewesWm. Williams Sam!. Adams John PennOliver Wolcott John Adams

Robt. Treat Paine South CarolinaNew York Elbridge Gerry Edward RutledgeWm. Floyd Thos. Heyward, Junr.Phil. Livingston Delaware Thomas Lynch, Junr.Frans. Lewis Caesar Rodney Arthur MiddletonLewis Morris Geo. Read

Tho. M'Kean Geor.giaNew Jersey Button GwinnettRichd. Stockton Maryland Lyman HallJno. Witherspoon Samuel Chase Geo. WaltonFras. Hopkinson Wm.PacaJohn Hart Thos. StoneAbra. Clark Charles Carroll of Carrollton

CONSTITUTIONOF THE

UNITED STATES(1787)

[Preamble]

We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfectUnion, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for thecommon defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establishthis Constitution for the United States of America.

Article I

Section 1. All legislative Powersherein.granted shall be vested in aCongress of the United States, whichshall consist of a Senate and Houseof Representatives.

Section 2. The House ofRepresentatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year bythe People of the several States, andthe Electors in each State shall havethe Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch ofthe State Legislature.

418

No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained tothe Age of twenty five Years andbeen seven Years a Citizen of theUnited States, and who shall not,when elected, be an Inhabitant ofthat State in which he shall be chosen.

Representatives and direct Taxesshall be apportioned among the several States which may be includedwithin this Union, according to theirrespective Numbers, which shall bedetermined by adding to the wholeNumber of Free persons, including

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE U.S. 419

those bound to Service for a Term ofYears, and excluding Indians nottaxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shallbe made within three Years afterthe first meeting of the Congress ofthe United States, and within everysubsequent Term of· ten Years, insuch ·Manner as they shall by Lawdirect. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for everythirty Thousand, but each State shallhave at Least one Representative;and until such enumeration shall bemade, the State of New Hampshireshall be entitied to chuse three,Massachusetts eight, Rhode Islandand Providence Plantations one,Connecticut five, New York six, NewJersey four, Pennsylvania eight,Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, SouthCarolina five, and Georgia three.

When vacancies happen in theRepresentation from any State, theExecutive Authority thereof shallissue Writs of Election to fill suchVacancies.

The House ofRepresentatives shallchuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Powerof Impeachment.

Section 3. The Senate of theUnited States shall be composed oftwo Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, forsix Years; and each Senator shallhave one Vote.

Immediately after they shall be

assembled in Consequence of the firstElection, they shall be divided asequally as may be into three Classes.The seats of the Senators of the firstClass shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second year, of the second Class at the Expiration of thefourth Year, and of the third Classat the Expiration of the sixth Year,so that one-third may be cho·sen every second Year; and if Vacancieshappen by Resignation, ·or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executivethereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meetingof the Legislature, which shall thenfill such Vacancies.

No Person shall be a Senator whoshall not have attained to the Age ofthirty Years, and been nine Years aCitizen of the United States, andwho shall not, when elected, be anInhabitant of that State for whichhe shall be chosen.

The Vice President of the UnitedStates shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unlessthey be equally divided.

The Senate shall chuse their otherOfficers, and also a President protempore, in the Absence of the VicePresident, or when he shall exercisethe Office of President of the UnitedStates.

The Senate shall have the solePower to try all impeachments.When sitting for that Purpose, theyshall be on Oath or Affirmation.


When the President of the UnitedStates is tried, the ChiefJustice shallpreside: and no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence oftwo thirds of the Members present.

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further thanto removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Officeof honor, Trust or Profit under theUnited States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liableand subject to Indictment, Trial,Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

Section 4. The Times, Places andmanner of holding Elections forSenators and Representatives, shallbe prescribed in each State by theLegislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law makeor alter such Regulations, except asto the Places of chusing Senators. ,-

The Congress shall assemble atleast once in every Year, and suchMeeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shallby Law appoint a different Day.

Section 5. Each House shall bethe Judge of the Elections, Returnsand Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shallconstitute a Quorum to do Business;but a smaller Number may adjournfrom day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance ofabsent Members, in such Manner,and under such Penalties as eachHouse· may provide.

Each House may determine theRules of its Proceedings, punish itsMembers for disorderly Behaviour,and, with the Concurrence of twothirds, expel a Member.

Each House shall keep a Journalof its Proceedings, and from time totime publish the same, exceptingsuch Parts as may in their judgmentrequire Secrecy; and the Yeas andNays of the Members of either Houseon any question shall, at the desireof one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without theConsent of the other, adjourn formore than three days, nor to anyother Place than that in which thetwo Houses shall be sitting.

Section 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to beascertained by Law, and paid out ofthe Treasury of the United States.They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace,be privileged from Arrest duringtheir Attendance at the Session oftheir respective Houses, and in goingto and returning from the same; andfor any Speech or Debate in eitherHouse, they shall not be questionedin any other place.

No Senator or Representativeshall, during the Time for which hewas elected, be appointed to any civilOffice under the Authority of theUnited States, which shall have been

1981 THE CONSTITUTION OF THE U.S. 421

created, or the Emoluments whereofshall have been encreased duringsuch time; and no Person holding.any Office under the United States,shall be a Member of either Houseduring his Continuance in Office.

Section 7. All Bills for raisingRevenue shall originate in the Houseof Representatives; but the Senatemay propose or concur with Amend~

ments as on other Bills.Every Bill which shall have passed

the House of Representatives andthe Senate, shall, before it become aLaw, be presented to the Presidentof the United States; If he approvehe shall sign it, but if not he shallreturn it, with his Objections to thatHouse in which it shall have origi~

nated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, andproceed to reconsider it. If after suchReconsideration two thirds of thatHouse shall agree to pass the Bill, itshall be sent, together with theObjections, to the other House, by whichit shall likewise be reconsidered, andif approved by two thirds of thatHouse, it shall become a Law. Butin all such Cases the Votes of bothHouses shall be determined by yeasand Nays, and the Names of thePersons voting for and against theBill shall be entered on the Journalof each House respectively. If anyBill shall not be returned by thePresident within ten Days (Sundaysexcepted) after it shall have beenpresented to him, the Same shall be

a Law, in like Manner as if he hadsigned it, unless the Congress bytheir Adjournment prevent its Re~

turn, in which Case it shall not be aLaw.

Every Order, Resolution, or Voteto which the Concurrence of theSenate and House of Representa~

tives may be necessary (except on aquestion of Adjournment) shall bepresented to the President of theUnited States; and before the Sameshall take Effect, shall be approvedby him, or being disapproved by him,shall be repassed by two thirds ofthe Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules andLimitations prescribed in the Caseof a Bill.

Section 8. The Congress shall havePower to lay and collect Taxes, Du~ties, Imposts and Excises, to pay theDebts and provide for the commonDefence and general Welfare of theUnited States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniformthroughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit ofthe United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the IndianTribes;

To establish an uniform Rule ofNaturalization, and uniform Lawson the subject of Bankruptciesthroughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Valuethereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix


the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment ofcounterfeiting the Securities andcurrent Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and postRoads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing forlimited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to theirrespective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior tothe supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies andFelonies committed on the high Seas,and Offences against the Law ofNations;

To declare War, grant Letters ofMarque and Reprisal, and makeRules concerning Captures on Landand Water;

To raise and support Armies, butno Appropriation of Money to thatUse shall be for a longer Term thantwo Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;To make Rules for the Govern

ment and Regulation of the land andnaval Forces;

To provide for calling forth theMilitia to execute the Laws of theUnion, suppress Insurrections andrepel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming,and disciplining, the Militia, and forgoverning such Part of them as maybe employed in the Service of the

United States, reserving to the Statesrespectively, the Appointment of theOfficers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislationin all Cases whatsoever, over suchDistrict (not exceeding ten Milessquare) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance ofCongress, become the Seat of theGovernment of the United States,and to exercise like Authority overall Places purchased by the Consentof the Legislature of the State inwhich the Same shall be, for theErection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needfulBuildings;-And

To make all Laws which shall benecessary and proper for carryinginto Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested bythis Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in anyDepartment or Officer thereof.

Section 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any ofthe States now existing shall thinkproper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to theYear one thousand eight hundredand eight, but a Tax or duty may beimposed on such Importation, notexceeding ten dollars for each Person.

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended,unless when in Cases ofRebellion or


Invasion the public Safety may re··quire it.

No Bill of Attainder or ex postfacto Law shall be passed.

No Capitation, or other direct, taxshall be laid, unless in Proportion tothe Census or Enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken.

No Tax or Duty shall be laid onArticles exported from any State.

No Preference shall be given byany Regulation of Commerce orRevenue to the Ports of one Stateover those of another: nor shall Ves·,sels bound to, or from, one State, beobliged to enter, clear, or pay Dutiesin another.

No Money shall be drawn fromthe Treasury, but in Consequence ofAppropriations made by Law; and aregular Statement and Account ofthe Receipts and·Expenditures of allpublic Money shall be published fromtime to time.

No Title of Nobility shall begranted by the United States: Andno Person holding any Office of Profitor Trust under them, shall, withoutthe Consent of the Congress, acceptof any present, Emolument, Office,or Title, of any kind whatever, fromany King, Prince, or foreign State.

Section 10. No State shall enterinto any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marqueand Reprisal; coin Money; emit Billsof Credit; make any Thing but goldand silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of At-

tainder, ex post facto Law, or Lawimpairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutelynecessary for executing its inspection Laws: and the net Produce of allDuties and Imposts, laid by any Stateon Imports or Exports, shall. be. forthe Use of the Treasury of the UnitedStates; and all such Laws shall besubject· to the Revision and Controlof the Congress.

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty ofTonnage, keep Troops, or Ships ofWar in time of Peace, enter into' anyAgreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power,or engage in War, unless actuallyinvaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

Article II

Section 1. The executive Powershall be vested in a President of theUnited States of America. He shallhold his Office during the Term offour Years, and, together with theVice President, chosen for the sameTerm, be elected, as follows:

Each State shall appoint, in suchManner as the Legislature. thereofmay direct, a Number of Electors,equal to the whole Number of Sena-


tors and Representatives to whichthe State may be entitled in theCongress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under theUnited States, shall be appointed anElector.

The Electors shall meet in theirrespective States, and vote by Ballotfor two persons, ofwhom one at leastshall not be an Inhabitant of thesame State with themselves. Andthey shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number ofVotes for each; which List they shallsign and certify, and transmit sealedto the Seat of the Government of theUnited States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President ofthe Senate shall, in the Presence ofthe Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, andthe Votes shall then be counted. ThePerson having the greatest Numberof Votes shall be the President, ifsuch Number be a Majority of thewhole Number .of Electors appointed; and if there be more thanone who have such Majority, andhave an equal Number of Votes, thenthe House of Representatives shallimmediately chuse, by Ballot one ofthem for President; and if no Personhave a Majority, then from the fivehighest on the list, the said Houseshall in like manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President,the Votes shall be taken by States,the Representation from each State

having one vote; A quorum for thisPurpose shall consist of a M;emberor Members from two thirds of theStates, and a Majority of all theStates shall be necessary to a Choice.In every Case, after the Choice ofthe President, the Person having thegreatest Number of Votes of theElectors shall be the Vice President.But if there should remain two ormore who have equal Votes, theSenate shall chuse from them byBallot the Vice-President.

The Congress may determine theTime of chusing the Electors, andthe Day on which they shall givetheir Votes; which Day shall be thesame throughout the United States.

No person except a natural bornCitizen, or a Citizen of the UnitedStates, at the time of the Adoptionof this Constitution, shall be eligibleto the Office of President; neithershall any Person be eligible to thatoffice who shall not have attained tothe Age of thirty five Years, andbeen fourteen Years a Residentwithin the United States.

In Case of the Removal of thePresident from Office, or ofhis Death,Resignation or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of thesaid Office, the Same shall devolveon the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for theCase of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaringwhat Officer shall then act as Presi-


dent, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall beelected.

The President shall, at statedTimes, receive for his Services, aCompensation, which shall neitherbe encreased nor diminished duringthe Period for which he shall· havebeen elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any otherEmolument from the United States,or any of them.

Before he enter on the Executionof his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:-((I dosolemnly swear (or affirm) that Iwill faithfully execute the Office ofPresident of the United States, andwill to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Section 2. The President shall beCommander in Chief of the Armyand Navy of the United States, andof the Militia of the several States,when called into the actual Serviceof the United States; he may requirethe Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each ofthe executiveDepartments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their· respective Offices, and he shall have Powerto grant Reprieves and Pardons forOffences against the United States,except in Cases of Impeachment.

He shall have Power, by and withthe Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two

thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and byand with the Advice and Consent ofthe Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers andConsuls, Judges of the supremeCourt, and all ot}:ler Officers of theUnited States, whose Appointmentsare not herein otherwise providedfor, and which shall be establishedby Law: but the Congress may byLaw vest the Appointment of suchinferior Officers, as they thinkproper, in the President alone, inthe Courts of Law, or in the Headsof Departments.

The President shall have Power tofill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate,by granting Commissions which shallexpire at the End of their next session.

Section 3. He shall from time totime give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, andrecommend to their Considerationsuch Measures as he shall judgenecessary and expedient; he may, onextraordinary Occasions, conveneboth Houses, or either of them, andin Case of Disagreement betweenthem, with Respect to the time ofAdjournment, he may adjourn themto such Time as he shall think proper;he shall receive Ambassadors andother public Ministers; he shall takeCare that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all theOfficers of the United States.

426/

THE FREEMAN July

Section 4. The President, VicePresident, and all civil Officers ofthe United States, shall be removedfrom Office on Impeachment for, andConviction of, Treason, Bribery, orother high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Article III

Section 1. The Judicial Power ofthe United States, shall be vested inone supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as' the Congress mayfrom time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall holdtheir Offices during good Behaviour,and shall, at stated Times,. receivefor their Services, a Compensation,which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

Section 2. The judicial Power shallextend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States,and Treaties made, or which shallbe made, under their Authority;-toall Cases affecting Ambassadors,other public Ministers andConsuls;-to all Cases of admiraltyand maritime Jurisdiction;-toControversies to which the UnitedStates shall be a Party;-to Controversies between two or moreStates;-between a State and Citizens of another State;-betweenCitizens of different States,-between Citizens of the same State

claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State,or the Citizens thereof, and foreignStates, Citizens or Subjects.

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors' other public Ministers andConsuls, and those in which a Stateshall be Party, the supreme Courtshall have original Jurisdiction. Inall the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall haveappellate Jurisdiction, both as to Lawand Fact, with such Exceptions, andunder such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

The Trial of all Crimes, except inCases of Impeachment, shall be byJury; and such Trial shall be held inthe State where the said Crimes shallhave been committed; but when notcommitted within any State, theTrial shall be at such Place or Placesas the Congress may by Law havedirected.

Section 3. Treason against theUnited States, shall consist only inlevying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, 'giving themAid and Comfort. No Person shall beconvicted of Treason unless on theTestimony of two Witnesses to thesame overt Act, or on Confession inopen Court.

The Congress shall have Power todeclare the Punishment of Treason,but no Attainder of Treason shallwork Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of thePerson attainted.


Article IV

Section 1. Full Faith and Creditshall be given in each State· to thepublic Acts, Records, and judicialProceedings ofevery other State. Andthe Congress may by general Lawsprescribe the Manner in which suchActs, Records and Proceedings shallbe proved, and the Effect thereof.

Section 2. The Citizens of eachState shall be entitled to all 'Privileges and Immunities of Citizens inthe several States.

A person charged in any State withTreason, Felony, or other Crime, whoshall flee from Justice, and be foundin another State shall on Demand ofthe executive Authority of the Statefrom which he fled, be delivered upto be removed to the State havingJurisdiction of the Crime.

No person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Lawsthereof, escaping into another, shall,in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged fromsuch Service or Labour, but shall bedelivered up on Claim of the Partyto whom such Service or Labour maybe due.

Section 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into thisUnion; but no new State shall beformed or erected within the J urisdiction of any other State; nor anyState be formed by the Junction oftwo or more States, or Parts ofStates,without the Consent of the Legisla-

tures of the States concerned as wellas of the Congress.

The Congress shall have Power todispose ofand make all needful Rulesand Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging tothe United States; and nothing inthis Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims ofthe United States, or of any particular State.

Section 4. The United States shallguarantee to every State in thisUnion a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each ofthem against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of theExecutive (when the Legislaturecannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

Article V

The Congress, whenevertwo thirdsof both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments tothis Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of twothirds of the several States, shallcall a Convention for proposingAmendments, which, in either Case,shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution,when ratified by the Legislatures ofthree fourths of the several States,or by Conventions in three fourthsthereof, as the one or the other Modeof Ratification may be proposed bythe Congress; Provided that no

428 THE FREEMAN

Amendment which may be madeprior to the Year One thousand eighthundred and eight shall in anyManner affect the first and fourthClauses in the Ninth Section of thefirst Article; and that no State,without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in theSenate.

Article VI

All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be asvalid against the United States under this Constitution, as under theConfederation.

This Constitution, and the Lawsof the United States which shall bemade in Pursuance thereof; and allTreaties made, or which shall bemade, under the Authority of theUnited States, shall be the supremeLaw of the Land; and the Judges inevery State shall be bound thereby,any Thing in the Constitution orLaws of any State to. the Contrarynotwithstanding.

The Senators and Representativesbefore mentioned, and the Members

Ratification:

of the several State Legislatures, andall executive and judicial Officers,both of the United States and of theseveral States, shall be bound byOath or Affirmation, to support thisConstitution; but no religious Testshall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trustunder the United States.

Article VII

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of thisConstitution between the States soratifying the Same.

Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States presentthe Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord onethousand seven hundred andEighty seven and of the Independence of the United States ofAmerica the Twelfth IN WITNESS whereof We have hereuntosubscribed our Names,

GO: Washington-Presidt.and deputy from Virginia

Attest William Jackson Secretary

DelawarePennsylvaniaNew JerseyGeorgiaConnecticutMassachusettsMaryland

December 7, 1787December 12, 1787December 18, 1787

January 2,1788January 9,1788

February 6, 1788April 28, 1788

South CarolinaNew HampshireVirginiaNew YorkNorth CarolinaRhode Island

May 23,1788June 21, 1788June 25, 1788July 26, 1788

November 21, 1789May 29,1790

FIRSTTEN

AMENDMENTS

(Article I)

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercisethereof; or abridging the freedom ofspeech, or of the press; or the rightof the people peaceably to assemble,and to petition the Government fora redress of grievances.

(Article II)

A well regulated Militia, beingnecessary to the security of a freeState, the right of the people to keepand bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

(Article III)

No Soldier shall, in time of peace,be quartered in any house, withoutthe consent of the Owner, nor intime of war, but in a manner to beprescribed by law.

(Article IV)

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall notbe violated, and no Warrants shallissue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, andparticularly describing the place tobe searched, and the persons orthings to be seized.

Aon

430

(Article V)

THE FREEMAN

(Article VII)

No person shall be held to answerfor a capital, or otherwise infamouscrime, unless on a presentment orindictment of a Grand Jury, exceptin cases arising in the land or navalforces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or publicdanger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twiceput in jeopardy of life or limb; norshall be compelled in any CriminalCase to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty,or property, without due process oflaw; nor shall private property betaken for public use, without justcompensation.

(Article VI)

In all criminal prosecutions, theaccused shall enjoy the right to aspeedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and districtwherein the crime shall have beencommitted, which district shall havebeen previously ascertained by law,and to be informed ofthe nature andcause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses againsthim; to have compulsory process forobtaining witnesses in his favor, andto have the Assistance of Counselfor his defence.

In suits at common law, where thevalue in controversy shall exceedtwenty dollars, the right of trial byjury shall be preserved, and no facttried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined, in any Court of the UnitedStates, than according to the rulesof the common law.

(Article VIII)

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed,nor cruel and unusual punishmentsinflicted.

(Article IX)

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not beconstrued to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

(Article X)

The powers not delegated to theUnited States by the Constitution,nor prohibited by it to the States,are .reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

-Adopted December 15, 1791

WASHINGTON'SFAREWELLADDRESS

Friends and Fellow-Citizens:The period for a new election ofa

citizen to administer the ExecutiveGovernment of the United Statesbeing not far distant, and the timeactually arrived when your thoughtsmust be employed iIi designating theperson who is to be clothed with thatimportant trust, it appears to meproper, especially as it may conduceto a more distinct expression of thepublic voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I haveformed to decline being consideredamong the number of those out ofwhom a choice is to be made.

I beg you at the same time to dome the justice to be assured that thisresolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen tohis country; and that in withdraw-

ing the tender of service, which silence in my situation might imply,I am influenced by no diminution ofzeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for yourpast kindness, but am supported bya full conviction that the step iscompatible with both.

The acceptance of andcontinuance hitherto in the office to whichyour suffrages have twice called mehave been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty andto a deference for what appeared tobe your desire. I constantly hopedthat it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently withmotives which I was not at liberty todisregard, to· return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of myinclination to do this previous to thelast election had even led to the pre-

431


paration of an address to declare itto you; but mature reflection on thethen perplexed and critical postureof our affairs with foreign nationsand the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence impelled me to abandon the idea. I rejoice that the state of your concerns,external as well as internal, nolonger renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety, and ampersuaded, whatever partiality maybe retained for my services, that inthe present circumstances of ourcountry you will not disapprove mydetermination to retire.

The impressions with which I firstundertook the arduous trust wereexplained on the proper occasion. Inthe discharge of this trust I will onlysay that I have, with good intentions, contributed toward the organization and administration of theGovernment the best exertions ofwhich a very fallible judgment wascapable. Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes,perhaps still more in the eyesofothers, has strengthened the motives todiffidence of myself; and every daythe increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more thatthe· shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome.Satisfied that if any circumstanceshave given peculiar value to my services they were temporary, I have

the consolation to believe that, whilechoice and prudence invite me toquit the political scene, patriotismdoes not forbid it.

A Prayer of Gratitude

In looking forward to the momentwhich is intended to terminate thecareer of my political life my feelings do not permit me to suspend thedeep acknowledgment of that debtof gratitude which lowe to my beloved country for the many honors ithas conferred upon me; still more forthe steadfast confidence with whichit has supported me, and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed ofmanifesting my inviolable attachment by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits haveresulted to our country from theseservices, let it always be remembered to your praise and as an instructive example in our annals thatunder circumstances in which thepassions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead; amidstappearances sometimes dubious; vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging; in situations in which not unfrequently want of success hascountenanced the spirit of criticism,the constancy of your support wasthe essential prop of the efforts anda guaranty of the plans by whichthey were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carryit with me to my grave as a strong

1981 WASHINGTON'S .FAREWELL ADDRESS 433

incitement to unceasing vows thatHeaven may continue to you thE~

choicest tokens of its beneficence;that your union and brotherly affec··tion may be perpetual; that the freE~

Constitution which is the work ofyour hands may be sacredly main··tained; that its administration inevery department maybe stampedwith wisdom and virtue; that, in fine:,the happiness of the people of theseStates, under the auspices ofliberty,may be made complete by so carefulla preservation and so prudent a useof this blessing as will acquire tothem the glory of recommending itto the applause, the affection, andadoption of every nation· which isyet a stranger to it.

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. Buta solicitude for your welfare which

can not end but with my life, andthe apprehension of danger naturalto that solicitude, urge me on an occasion. like the present to offer toyour solemn contemplation and to-recommend to your frequent reviewsome sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and whichappear to me all important to thepermanency ofyour felicity as a people. These will be offered to you withthe more freedom as you can onlysee in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who canpossibly have no personal motive tobias his counsel. Nor can I forget asan encouragement to it your indulgent reception of my sentiments ona former and not dissimilar occasion.

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of yourhearts, no recommendation of mineis necessary to fortify or confirm theattachment.

In Union Lies Strength

The unity of government whichconstitutes you one people is alsonow dear to you. It is justly so, for itis a main pillar in the edifice ofyourreal independence, the support ofyour tranquility at home, your peaceabroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty whichyou so highly prize. But as it is easyto foresee that from different causesand ftom different quarters much


pains will be taken, many artificesemployed, to weaken in your mindsthe conviction of this truth, as thisis the point in your political fortressagainst which the batteries of internal and external enemies will bemost constantly and actively (thoughoften covertly and insidiously) directed' it is of infinite moment thatyou should properly estimate theimmense value of your nationalunion to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustomingyourselves to think and speak of itas of the palladium of your politicalsafety and prosperity; watching forits preservation with jealous anxiety;, discountenancing whatever maysuggest even a suspicion that it canin any event be abandoned, and indignantly frowning upon the firstdawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country fromthe rest or to enfeeble the sacred tieswhich now link together the variousparts.

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens by birth or choice of a commoncountry, that country has a right toconcentrate your affections. Thename of American, which belongs toyou in your national capacity, mustalways exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discrimination~.

With slight shades of difference, you

have the same religion, manners,habits, and political principles. Youhave in a common cause fought andtriumphed together. The independence and liberty you possess arethe work of joint councils and jointefforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.

But these considerations, howeverpowerfully they address themselvesto your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply moreimmediately to your interest. Hereevery portion of our country findsthe most commanding motives forcarefully guarding· and .preservingthe union of the whole.

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protectedby the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions ofthe latter great additional resourcesof maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, inthe same intercourse, benefiting bythe same agency of the North, seesits agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly intoits own channels the seamen of theNorth, it' finds its particular navigation invigorated; and while it contributes. in different ways to nourishand increase the general mass of thenational navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritimestrength to which itself is unequallyadapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds,

1981 WASHINGTON'S F~AREWELLADDRESS 435

and in the progressive improvementof interior communications by landand water will more and more find,a valuable vent for the commoditieswhich it brings from abroad or manufactures at home. The West derivesfrom the East supplies requisite toits growth and comfort, and what isperhaps of still greater consequence,it must of necessity owe the secureenjoyment of indispensable outletsfor its own productions to the weight,influence, and the future maritimestrength of the Atlantic side of theUnion, directed by an indissolublecommunity of interest as one nation.Any other tenure by which the Westcan hold this essential advantage,whether derived from its own separate strength or from an apostateand unnatural connection with anyforeign power, must be intrinsicallyprecarious.

Harmonious Interests

While, then, every part of ourcountry thus feels an immediate andparticular interest in union, all theparts combined can not fail to findin the united mass of means and efforts· greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a lessfrequent interruption of their peaceby foreign nations, and what is ofinestimable value, they must derivefrom union an exemption from thosebroils and wars between themselveswhich so frequently afflict neighbor-

ing countries not tied together bythe same governments, which theirown rivalships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which oppositeforeign alliances, attachments, andintrigues would stimulate and imbitter. Hence, likewise, they willavoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishmentswhich, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty,and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is that yourunion ought to be considered as amain prop of your liberty, and thatthe love of the one ought to endearto you the preservation of the other.

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflectingand virtuous mind, and exhibit thecontinuance of the union as a primary object of patriotic desire. Isthere a doubt whether a commongovernment can embrace so large asphere? Let experience solve it. Tolisten to mere speculation in such acase were criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of governments for· therespective subdivisions, will afford ahappy issue to the experiment. It iswell worth a fair and f1:111 experiment.With such powerful and obviou.s motives. to union affecting all parts ofour country, while experience shallnot have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason


to distrust the patriotism of thosewho in any quarter may endeavor toweaken its bands.

Divisive Issues Avoided

In contemplating the causes whichmay disturb our union it occurs asmatter· of serious concern that anyground should have been furnishedfor characterizing parties by geographical discriminations-r-Northern and Southern, Atlantic andWestern-whence designing menmay endeavor to excite a belief thatthere is a real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influencewithin particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and aims ofother districts. You can not shieldyourselves too much against thejealousies and heartburnings whichspring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien toeach other those who ought to bebound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants ofour Westerncountry have lately had a usefullesson on this head. They have seen inthe negotiation by the Executive andin the unanimous ratification by theSenate of the treaty with Spain, andin the universal satisfaction at thatevent throughout the United States,a decisive proofhow unfounded werethe suspicions propagated amongthem of a policy in the General Government and in the Atlantic Statesunfriendly to their interests in re-

gard to the Mississippi. They havebeen witnesses to the· formation oftwo treaties-that with Great Britain and that with Spain-which secure to them everything they coulddesire in respect to our foreign relations toward confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom torely for the preservation of these advantages on the union by which theywere procured? Will they not henceforth be deaf .to those advisers, ifsuch there are, who would sever themfrom their brethren and connect themwith aliens?

To the efficacy and permanency ofyour union a government for. thewhole is indispensable. No alliances, however strict, between theparts can be an adequate substitute.They must inevitably experience theinfractions and interruptions whichall alliances in all times have experienced. Sensible of this momentoustruth, you have improved upon yourfirst essay by the adoption of a Constitution of Government better calculated than your former for an intimate union and for the efficaciousmanagement of your common concerns. This Government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon fullinvestigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principIes, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy,and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a

1981 WASHINGTON'S li'AREWELL ADDRESS 437

just claim to your confidence andyour support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures,· are dutiesenjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of ourpolitical systems is the right of thepeople to make and to alter theirconstitutions of government. But theconstitution which at any time exists till changed by an explicit andauthentic act of the whole •people issacredly obligatory upon all. Thevery idea of the power and the rightof the people to establish government presupposes the duty of everyindividual to obey the establishedgovernment.

Special Interests and Factions

All obstructions to the executionof the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real designto direct, control, counteract, or awethe regular deliberation and actionof the constituted authorities, aredestructive of this fundamentalprinciple and of fatal tendency. Theyserve to organize faction; to give itan artificial and extraordinary force;to put in the place of the delegatedwill of the nation the will of a party,often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community,and, according to the alternatetriumphs ofdifferent parties, to makethe public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incon-

gruous projects of faction rather thanthe organ of consistent and wholesome plans, digested by commoncounsels and modified by mutual interests.

However combinations or associations of the above description maynow and then answer popular ends,they are likely in the course of timeand things to become potent enginesby· which cunning, ambitious, andunprincipled men will be enabled tosubvert the power of the people, andto usurp for themselves the reins ofgovernment, destroying afterwardsthe very engines which have liftedthem to unjust dominion.

Toward the preservation of yourGovernment and the permanency ofyour present happy state, it is requisite not only that you steadily discountenance irregular opposition toits acknowledged authority, but alsothat you resist with care the spiritof innovation upon its principles,however specious the pretexts. Onemethod of assault may be to effect inthe forms of the Constitution alterations which will impair the energyof the system, and thus to undermine what can not be directly overthrown. In all the changes to whichyou maybe invited remember thattime and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character ofgovernments as of other human institutions; that experience is thesurest standard by which to test thereal tendency of the existing consti-


tution of a country; that facility inchanges upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; andremember especially that for the efficient management of your commoninterests in a country so extensiveas ours a government of as muchvigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in sucha government, with powers properlydistributed and adjusted, its surestguardian. It is, indeed, little elsethan a name where the governmentis too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine eachmember of the society within thelimits prescribed by the laws, and tomaintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property.

The Spirit of Party

I have already intimated to youthe danger of parties in the State,with particular reference to thefounding of them on geographicaldiscriminations. Let me now take amore comprehensive view, and warnyou in the most solemn manneragainst the baneful .effects of thespirit of party generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, havingits root in the strongest passions ofthe human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments,

more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but in those of the popularform it is seen in its greatest rankness and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of onefaction over another, sharpened bythe spirit of revenge natural to partydissension, which in different agesand countries has perpetrated themost horrid enormities, is itself afrightful despotism. But this leadsat length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders andmiseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute powerof an individual, and sooner or laterthe chief of some prevailing faction,more able or more fortunate thanhis competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely outof sight), the common and continualmischiefs of the spirit of party aresufficient to make it the interest andduty of a wise people to discourageand restrain it.

It serves always to distract thepublic councils and enfeeble thepublic administration. It agitates thecommunity with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles theanimosity of one part against another; foments occasionally riot andinsurrection. It opens the door toforeign influence and corruption,

1981 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 439

which find a facilitated access to thegovernment itself through the channels of party passion. Thus the policy and the will of one country aresubjected to the· policy and will ofanother.

Dangerous in a Free Country

There is an opinion that parties infree countries are useful checks uponthe administration of the government, and serve to keep alive thespirit of liberty. This within certainlimits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast patriotism may look with indulgence,if not with favor, upon the spirit ofparty. But in those of the popularcharacter, in governments purelyelective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency it is certain there will alwaysbe enough of that spirit for everysalutary purpose; and there beingconstant danger of excess, the effortought to be by force ofpublic opinionto mitigate and assuage it. A-fire notto be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead ofwarming, it should consume.

It is important, likewise, that thehabits of thinking in a free countryshould inspire caution in those intrusted with its administration toconfine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres,avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach

Mt. Vernon, Washington's home

upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate thepowers of all the departments in one,and thus to create, whatever the formof government, a real despotism. Ajust estimate of that love of powerand proneness to abuse it which predominates in the human heart issufficient to satisfy us of the truth ofthis position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories,and constituting each the guardianof the public weal against invasionsby the· others, has been evinced byexperiments ancient and modern,some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve themmust be as necessary as to institutethem. If in the opinion of the peoplethe distribution or modification ofthe constitutional powers be in anyparticular wrong, let it be corrected


by an amendment in the way whichthe Constitution designates. But letthere be no change by usurpation;for though this in one instance maybe the instrument of good, it is thecustomary weapon by which freegovernments are destroyed. Theprecedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which theuse can at any time yield.

Religion and Morality

Of all the dispositions and habitswhich lead to political prosperity,religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would thatman claim the tribute of patriotismwho should labor to subvert thesegreat pillars of human happinessthese firmest props of the duties ofmen and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man,ought to respect and to cherish them.A volume could not trace all theirconnections with private and publicfelicity. Let it simply be asked,Where is the security for property,for reputation, for life, if the sense ofreligious obligation desert the oathswhich are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And letus with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatevermay be conceded to the influence ofrefined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that

national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

It is substantially true that virtueor morality is a necessary spring ofpopular government. The rule indeed extends with more or less forceto every species of free government.Who that is a sincere friend to it canlook with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation ofthe fabric? Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion ofknowledge. In proportion as thestructure of a government gives forceto public opinion, it is essential thatpublic opinion should be enlightened.

As a very important source ofstrength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preservingit is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions ofexpense bycultivating peace, but rememberingalso that timely disbursements toprepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements torepel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but byvigorous exertions in time of peaceto discharge the debts which unavoidable wars have occasioned, notungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen which we ourselves ought to bear. The executionof these maxims belongs to your representatives; but it is necessary thatpublic opinion should cooperate. To


facilitate to them the performanceof their duty it is essential that youshould practically bear in mind thattoward the payment of debts theremust be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that notaxes can be devised which are notmore or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable from theselection of the proper objects (whichis always a choice of difficulties),ought to be a decisive motive for acandid construction of the conduct ofthe Government in making it, andfor a spirit of acquiescence in themeasures for obtaining revenuewhich the public exigencies may atany time dictate.

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peaceand harmony with all. Religion andmorality enjoin this conduct. Andcan it be that good policy does notequally enjoin it? It will be worthyof a free, enlightened, and at no distant period a great nation to give tomankind the magnanimous and toonovel example of a people alwaysguided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that inthe course of time and things thefruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages whichmight be lost by a steady adherenceto it? Can it be that Providence hasnot connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue? Theexperiment, at least, is recom-

mended by every sentiment whichennobles human nature. Alas! is itrendered impossible by its vices?

Internationql Policy

In the execution of such a plannothing is more essential than thatpermanent, inveterate antipathiesagainst particular nations and passionate attachments for others shouldbe excluded, and that in place ofthem just and amicable feelings toward all should be cultivated. Thenation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree aslave. It is a slave to its animosityor to its affection, either of which issufficient to lead it astray from itsduty and its interest. Antipathy inone nation against another disposeseach more readily to offer insult andinjury, to lay hold of slight causes ofumbrage, and to be haughty and intractable when accidental or triflingoccasions of dispute occur.

Hence frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody. contests. The nation prompted by illwill and resentment sometimes impels to war the government contraryto the best calculations of policy.The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, andadopts through passion what reason'would reject. At other times it makesthe animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility, instigated by pride, ambition, and other


sinister and pernicious motives. Thepeace often, sometimes perhaps theliberty, of nations has been the victim.

So, likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for anotherproduces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an· imaginarycommon interest in cases where noreal common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of theother, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and warsof the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leadsalso to· concessions to the favoritenation ofprivileges denied to others,which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions by unnecessarily parting with what oughtto have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill will, and a disposition to retaliate in the parties fromwhom equal privileges are withheld;and it gives to ambitious, corrupted,or deluded citizens (who devotethemselves to the favorite nation)facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country withoutodium, sometimes even with popularity, gilding with the appearancesof a virtuous sense of obligation, acommendable deference for publicopinion, or a laudable zeal for publicgood the base or foolish compliancesof ambition, corruption, or infatuation.

As avenues to foreign influence in

innumerable ways,. such attachments are particularly alarming tothe truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper withdomestic factions, to practice the artsof seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the publiccouncils! Such an attachment of asmall or weak toward a great a.ndpowerful nation dooms the former tobe the satellite of the latter. Againstthe insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me,fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a freepeople ought to be constantly awake,since history and experience provethat foreign influence is one of themost baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy, to beuseful, must be impartial, else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of adefense against it. Excessive partialityfor one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause thosewhom they actuate to see dangeronly on one side, and serve to veiland even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots whomay resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspectedand odious, while its tools and dupesusurp the applause and confidenceof the people to surrender their interests.

The great rule of conduct for us inregard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations to


have with them as little politicalconnection as possible. So far as wehave already formed engagementslet them be fulfilled with perfect goodfaith. Here let us stop.

Avoid Political Alliance

Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none or a veryremote relation. Hence she must beengaged in frequent controversies,the causes of which are essentiallyforeign to our .concerns. Hence,therefore, it must be unwise in us toimplicate ourselves by artificial tiesin the ordinary vicissitudes.· of herpolitics or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursuea different course. If we remain onepeople, under an efficient government, the period is not far off whenwe may defy material injury fromexternal annoyance; when we maytake such an attitude as will causethe neutrality we may at any timeresolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations,under the impossibility of makingacquisitions upon us, will not lightlyhazard the giving us provocation;when we may choose peace or war,as our interest, guided by justice,shall counsel.

Why forego the advantages of sopeculiar a situation? Why quit ourown to stand upon foreign ground?

Why, by interweaving our destinywith that of any part of Europe,entangle our peace and prosperity inthe toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice?

The Simple Rules of Trade

It is our true policy to steer clearof permanent alliances with anyportion of the foreign world, so far,I mean, as we are now at liberty todo it; for let me not be understood ascapable of patronizing infidelity toexisting engagements. I hold themaxim· no less applicable to publicthan to private affairs that honestyis always the best policy. I repeat,therefore, let those engagements beo~served in their genuine sense. Butin my opinion it is unnecessary andwould be unwise to extend them.

Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable establishments ona respectable defensive posture, wemay safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.

Harmony, liberal intercourse withall nations are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But evenour commercial policy should holdan equal and impartial hand, neither seeking nor granting exclusivefavors or preferences; consulting thenatural course of things; diffusingand diversifying by gentle meansthe streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing with powers so disposed, in order to give trade


a stable course, to define the rightsof our merchants, and to enable theGovernment to support them, conventional rules of intercourse, thebest that present circumstances andmutual opinion will permit, buttemporary and liable to be from timeto time abandoned or varied as experience and circumstances shalldictate; constantly keeping in viewthat it is folly in one nation to lookfor disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under thatcharacter; that by such acceptanceit may place itself in the condition ofhaving given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for notgiving more. There can be no greatererror than to expect or calculate uponreal favors from nation to nation. Itis an illusion which experience mustcure, which a just pride ought to discard.

Suggestions to GuidePeaceful National Affairs

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old andaffectionate friend I dare not hopethey will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish-thatthey will control the usual currentof the passions or prevent our nationfrom running the course which hashitherto marked the destiny of nations. But if I may even flatter my-

self that they may be productive ofsome partial benefit, some occasional good-that they may now andthen recur to moderate the fury ofparty spirit, to warn against themischiefs offoreign intrigue, to guardagainst the impostures of pretendedpatriotism-this hope will be a fullrecompense for the solicitude for yourwelfare by which they have beendictated.

How far in the discharge of my official duties I have been guided bythe principles which have been delineated the public records and otherevidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is that I have at least believedmyself to be guided by them.

In relation to the still subsistingwar in Europe my proclamation ofthe 22nd of April, 1793, is the indexto my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice and by. that of yourrepresentatives in both Houses ofCongress, the spirit of that measurehas continually governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts to deter ordivert me from it.

After deliberate examination, withthe aid of the best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that ourcountry, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right totake, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral position.Having taken it, I determined as faras should depend upon me to main-


tain it with moderation, perseverance, and firmness.

The considerations which respectthe right to hold this conduct it isnot necessary on this occasion to detail. I will only observe that, according to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from beingdenied by any of the belligerentpowers, has been virtually admittedby all.

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without anything more, from the obligationwhich justice and humanity imposeon every nation, in cases in which itis free to act, to maintain inviolatethe relations of peace and amity toward other nations.

An Independent Nation

The inducements of interest forobserving that conduct will best bereferred to your own reflections andexperience. With me a predominantmotive has been to endeavor to gaintime to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions, andto progress without interruption tothat degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it,humanly speaking, the command ofits own fortunes.

Though in reviewing the inci-dents of my Administration I amunconscious of intentional error, Iam nevertheless too sensible of mydefects not to think it probable thatI may have committed many errors.

Whatever they may be, I ferventlybeseech the Almighty to avert ormitigate the evils to which they maytend. I shall also carry with me thehope that my country will nevercease to view them with indulgence,and that, after forty-five years of mylife dedicated to its service with anupright zeal, the faults. of incompetent abilities will be consigned tooblivion, as myself must soon be tothe mansions of rest.

Relying on its kindness in this asin other things, and actuated by thatfervent love toward it which is sonatural to a man who views in it thenative soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, Ianticipate with pleasing expectationthat retreat in which I promise myself to realize without allljY the sweetenjoyment of partaking in the midstof my fellow-citizens the benign influence of good laws under a freegovernment-the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy re'lVard, as I trust, ofour mutual cares,labors, and dangers.

-September 17, 1796

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENTAdditional Readings

Among the books published by The Foundation for Economic Education or stocked for resale from other publishers, the following areespecially commended for further study of the principles underlyingthe Constitution.

FREDERIC BASTIATThe LawThe law, it has been said, is nothing more than the will of tyrants. Soit has been many times in history. But just laws depend upon a lawwhich underlies the law passed by legislatures or declared by rulers.It is a law which provides the framew~rk of liberty. Emancipationfrom the doleful theories of the compulsive state awaits discerningreaders of this brief treatise.

CLARENCE B. CARSONThe American TraditionIs the libertarian position incompatible with conservatism? Somewhere, perhaps, but in the United States, NO! This becomes clear inthis careful and illuminating work on the American tradition. In theUnited States, a great tradition took shape that was protective of andin harmony with liberty. This book describes, too, how the traditionhas been distorted and is being undermined.

The Rebirth of LibertyLiberty has been all too often stillborn in the revolutions of our era.The promises of freedom were but deceitful allure from would-be tyrants. One revolution was different, however; it was the AmericanRevolution. How the promise was turned into reality is the subject ofthis contemporary study of the great men and events of that revolt byAmericans from English rule.

JOHN CHAMBERLAINThe Roots of CapitalismThe connection between economic thought and practice is a vital one.In similar manner, the precondition of private property to the effective use of capital is essential. Chamberlain has woven these andother threads together to tell the modern story offreedom and production.

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT--ADDITIONAL READINGS 447

w. M. CURTISSThe Tariff IdeaNo notion has been more persistently held in our era than the one thatobstacles ought to be placed in the way of goods entering a country.Even today auto stickers proclaim ((Every foreign car imported cost 10jobs for Americans." W. M. Curtiss has exposed this fallacy in this brief,easy-to-read -and hard-to-put-down booklet. The case for freedom isclearly and forcefully made.

GOTTFRIED DIETZEThe Federalist: A Classic on Federalism and Free GovernmentIt is generally conceded that The Federalist was the greatest American contribution to political thought. It follows that a clear understanding of these papers and the thought of the men who wrote themis vital both to thinking about politics and to an understanding of theUnited States Constitution. Professor Dietze has provided invaluableaids to doing this in his seminal work on The Federalist.

VERNA M. HALLThe Christian History of the Constitution of the United StatesThe Constitution of the United States was founded upon the conception of a Higher Law. The Higher Law concept is itself founded in thebelief in the laws of God. Verna Hall has collected and arranged in asingle volume the evidences of the Christian foundation of our Constitution.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON, JOHN JAY-AND JAMES MADISONThe FederalistSerious students of government, and particularly American government, may well begin with these papers written by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison. It is the most brilliant justification and explanation of the· Constitution that has been made. Theprinciples of effective government and liberty are set forth in thisgreat work!

CLARENCE MANIONThe Key to PeaceThose who think that the American way can somehow be evoked by avague and general term such as ((DenlOcracy" should be especially

448 THE' FREEMAN

interested in this booklet. With great economy, Clarence Manion covers the key ideas in the Declaration of Independence and describesthe basic institutions and practices. It reawakens pride in Americaand respect for the heritage.

LUDWIG VON MISESPlanned ChaosThe destruction of liberty in America as elsewhere has been accomplished both by private violence and by the near irresistible force ofthe modern state. This ~~easy, bloodless and non-violent" transition tosocialism is the subject of Planned Chaos. Professor Mises tells whythe popularity of this policy is not a safe test of its soundness, why itfails in its avowed purposes, and what it does to nations which pursueit.

LEONARD E. READAnything That's PeacefulIf Leonard Read simply announced that he favored anything that waspeaceful, what man of good will could disagree with him? But he doesnot leave it there. He goes on to name and demonstrate that a greatmany things we are doing do not make for peace. He shows that thepeacemakers are greatly outnumbered by the aggressors. The core ofhis philosophy is set forth· in this book.

GEORGE CHARLES ROCHE IIIAmerican FederalismWhat is the essence of the· American ·system of government? Is it acentralized democracy? Maya majority rightfully do whatever it pleases?What roles do the states play in our system? In this succinct study,George Roche covers the past, the present, and offers some thoughts forthe future of federalism.

Copies of ttA Literature of Freedom" catalogue and order form areavailable on request:

The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc.Irvington-on-Hudson, New York 10533

The Freeman 1981

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Transcript of The Freeman 1981