“Done … the Seventeenth Day of September, in the year of our LORD one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven.”
September 17th is Constitution Day, marking the anniversary of the signing of our Republic’s Constitution at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787. The Constitution of the United States is the most consequential governing document in the history of mankind, a dramatic departure from the rule of tyrants over the course of all preceding generations, and it stands in stark contrast to those authoritarian regimes that have risen since.
Our Constitution codified and enshrined the foundation of American Liberty enumerated in our Declaration of Independence, which affirmed the “Unalienable Rights of Man,” under the assurance that Rule of Law would prevail over rule of men, the irrevocable terminus of the latter being tyranny.
We are the beneficiaries of generations of American Patriots who pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor “to support and defend” Liberty — oaths that have been wantonly forsaken by the current occupants of the executive branch.
Despite the deliberate rhetoric by contemporary socialists labeling our nation a “democracy,” because our Constitution is the greatest obstacle to their authoritarian agenda, our Founders’ abject contempt for “democracy,” a word that appears nowhere in our Constitution, was clear.
When drafting the Constitution to establish our Republic, our Founders boldly proclaimed that a Republic is rooted in Rule of Law (Liberty), while democracies ruled by men inevitably devolve into authoritarian autocracies — precisely what Harris and her leftist ilk seek. That is why our Constitution’s Article IV, Section 4 clearly notes: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government…”
Consider the most influential of those Founders and their timeless observations on the distinction between Republics and democracies.
George Washington, the “Father of our Nation”: “The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.”
Thomas Jefferson, the author of our Declaration of Independence: “The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind. … It was by the sober sense of our citizens that we were safely and steadily conducted from monarchy to republicanism, and it is by the same agency alone we can be kept from falling back. … The true foundation of republican government is the equal right of every citizen, in his person and property, and in their management. … It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution.”
James Madison, the principal author of our Constitution: “The Constitutional Convention … produced a new constitution designed to strengthen republican government against democratic assembly. … Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations. … If we go over the whole history of ancient and modern republics, we shall find their destruction to have generally resulted from those causes. … Hence it is, that such Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives, as they have been violent in their deaths.”
John Adams, second President of our nation, and a statesman, attorney and diplomat: “They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men. … There is no good government but what is republican. … Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. … It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy. It is not true, in fact, and nowhere appears in history. Those passions are the same in all men, under all forms of simple government, and when unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud, violence, and cruelty. … No simple form of government, can possibly secure men against the violences of power. … Democracy, will soon degenerate into an anarchy … and no man’s life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure.”
Alexander Hamilton, who, along with Madison and John Jay, articulated the meaning of our Constitution in The Federalist Papers: “It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this. … If it be asked, what is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? The answer would be, an inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws — the first growing out of the last. … We are now forming a republican government. Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments. … But if we incline too much to democracy, we shall soon shoot into a monarchy. … Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues and ending tyrants.”
Upon conclusion of the Federal Convention of 1787 to draft our Constitution, Benjamin Franklin was asked, “Well, Doctor, what have we got — a republic or a monarchy?” He replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
“If you can keep it,” indeed.
In his exhaustive 1833 Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, Justice Joseph Story, James Madison’s Supreme Court appointee, warned about the danger when Republics devolve into democracy: “Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.”
“The profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.” Sound familiar?
We invite you to honor our Constitution and its enduring legacy by reading Mark Alexander’s treatise on American Liberty. Keep the flame of Liberty burning bright by promoting the civic knowledge of Liberty for all those in your sphere of influence. (We offer an excellent resource for that purpose, our highly acclaimed “Patriot’s Primer on American Liberty” pocket guides, which are available for bulk purchase and distribution to students, grassroots organizations, civic clubs, political gatherings, military and public service personnel, professional associations, and others.)
As the current generation of American Patriots, we hold all elected representatives accountable to abide by their solemn oaths “to Support and Defend” our Constitution.
Constitution Day also marks The Patriot Post’s anniversary, and we are grateful to you, our fellow Patriots, for your financial support of our mission and operations budget in order to extend Liberty to the next generation.
Other resources:
Read Alexander’s treatise on American Liberty and our sacred obligation to “To Support and Defend” our Constitution.
Visit Alexander’s archive of columns on the Constitution, specifically those on Liberty and on our Republic’s First Principles.
The ‘Unalienable Rights of Man’ — A Civics Lesson
The Bill of Rights: ‘To Secure These Rights’
The 50 U.S. State Constitutions on God
A ‘Living Constitution’ for a Dying Republic
Judicial Supremacists and the Despotic Branch
Patriot Post columnist Bill Federer provided a brief history of our Constitution for a better understanding of the context of this most significant of historical documents.
“Done … the SEVENTEENTH DAY of SEPTEMBER, in the year of our LORD one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven.”
This is the last line of the U.S. Constitution.
Signer of the Constitution James McHenry noted in his diary (American Historical Review, 1906), that after Ben Franklin left the Constitutional Convention, he was asked by Mrs. Elizabeth Powel of Philadelphia: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defined “REPUBLIC”: An “exercise of the SOVEREIGN POWER is lodged in representatives elected by THE PEOPLE.”
To help explain, DEMOCRACY has come to have two definitions: one is the general concept of people ruling themselves; the other is an actual system of government.
As an actual system of government, a DEMOCRACY is where THE PEOPLE are KING ruling directly, whereas a REPUBLIC is where THE PEOPLE are KING, ruling through their representatives.
As an actual system of government, a DEMOCRACY only successfully worked on a small basis, like a Greek city-state, where every citizen went to the marketplace everyday to discuss politics.
“Politics” is from the Greek word “polis” which means “the business of the city.” The same word translated into Latin is “civics.”
“Citizen” is also contrasted with “subject.”
Kings have “subjects” who are subjected to their will. Democracies and republics have “citizens.”
“Citizen” is a Greek word which means co-ruler, co-sovereign, co-king. Citizens participate in ruling themselves.
Democracy, as a system of government, is limited in size, as once a city grows so large that citizens cannot come to the market everyday, control is transferred to those who carry news of what is being discussed, which can be slanted one way or another. Republics can grow larger, as citizens spend their time taking care of their families and farms, and representatives go in their place to the market everyday to discuss politics.
A “constitutional republic” is where the representatives are limited by a set of rules approved by the citizens.
Theodore Roosevelt stated October 24, 1903: “In no other place and at no other time has the experiment of government of the people, by the people, for the people, been tried on so vast a scale as here in our own country.”
However, a republic only lasts as long as the citizens have morals, virtue, and self-control.
John Adams warned October 11, 1798: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other …”
He added: “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge … would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net.”
In the Roman Republic, “representatives” were hereditary positions.
The American Republic is a hybrid, where representatives are democratically elected.
As Yale President Ezra Stiles stated in 1788: “Most states of all ages … have been founded in rapacity, usurpation and injustice … All the forms of CIVIL POLITY (government systems) have been tried by mankind, EXCEPT ONE: and that seems to have been reserved in Providence to be realized in America.”
John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, stated September 8, 1777: “The Americans are the first people whom Heaven has favored with an opportunity of deliberating upon, and choosing the forms of government under which they should live. All other constitutions have derived their existence from violence or accidental circumstances.”
Ronald Reagan stated in 1961: “In this country of ours took place the greatest revolution that has ever taken place in the world’s history. Every other revolution simply exchanged one set of rulers for another.”
Declaration signer James Wilson, who also signed the Constitution and was appointed to the Supreme Court by George Washington, remarked at Pennsylvania’s ratifying convention, November 26, 1787: “Governments, in general, have been the result of force, of fraud, and accident. After a period of 6,000 years has elapsed since the creation, the United States exhibit to the world the first instance … of a nation … assembling voluntarily … and deciding calmly concerning that system of government under which they would wish that they and their posterity should live.”
John Adams wrote in his notes on Canon & Feudal Law, 1765: “I always consider the settlement of America with reverence … as the opening of a grand scene and design in Providence for the illumination of the ignorant, and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.”
In 1802, Daniel Webster stated in a Fourth of July Oration: “The history of the world is before us … The civil, the social, the Christian virtues are requisite to render us worthy the continuation of that government which is the freest on earth.”
After the U.S. Constitution was written, it needed to be ratified by nine states in order to go into effect. Eight states had ratified it, and New Hampshire was in line to be the ninth, but disagreements caused it to stall.
The Governor of New Hampshire declared a Day of Fasting. New Hampshire reconvened its ratifying convention in June of 1788.
Harvard President Rev. Samuel Langdon gave an address which was instrumental in convincing the delegates to ratify the Constitution.
The Portsmouth Daily Evening Times, January 1, 1891, acknowledged Rev. Samuel Langdon’s influence: “… by his voice and example he contributed more perhaps, than any other man to the favorable action of that body.”
Langdon’s address was titled “The REPUBLIC of the ISRAELITES an example to the AMERICAN STATES,” June 5, 1788. In it, he stated: “Instead of the twelve tribes of Israel, we may substitute the thirteen states of the American union, and see this application plainly … That as God in the course of his kind providence hath given you an excellent Constitution of government, founded on the most rational, equitable, and liberal principles, by which all that liberty is secured … and you are impowered to make righteous laws for promoting public order and good morals; and as he has moreover given you by his Son Jesus Christ … a complete revelation of his will … it will be your wisdom … to … adhere faithfully to the doctrines and commands of the gospel, and practice every public and private virtue.”
Langdon continued: “The Israelites may be considered as a pattern to the world in all ages … Government … on republican principles, required laws; without which it must have degenerated immediately into … absolute monarchy … How unexampled was this quick progress of the Israelites, from abject slavery, ignorance, and almost total want of order, to a national establishment perfected in all its parts far beyond all other kingdoms and states! From a mere mob, to a well regulated nation, under a government and laws far superior to what any other nation could boast! …”
Langdon concluded: “It was a long time after the law of Moses was given before the rest of the world knew any thing of government by law … It was six hundred years after Moses before … Grecian republics received a very imperfect … code of laws from Lycurgus. It was about five hundred years from the first founding of the celebrated Roman empire … before the first laws of that empire.”
After Langdon’s address, New Hampshire’s delegates voted to ratify the U.S. Constitution, thus putting it into effect.
Professors Donald S. Lutz and Charles S. Hyneman published an article in American Political Science Review, 1984, titled “The Relative Influence of European Writers on Late 18th-Century American Political Thought.”
They examined nearly 15,000 writings of the 55 writers of the U.S. Constitution, including newspaper articles, pamphlets, books and monographs, and discovered that the Bible, especially the book of Deuteronomy, contributed 34 percent of all direct quotes made by the Founders.
When indirect Bible citations were included, the percentage rose even higher.
Benjamin Franklin wrote to the editor of the Federal Gazette, April 8, 1788 (The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Farrand’s Records, Vol. 3, CXCV, pp. 296-297; Documentary History of the Constitution, IV, 567-571): “I beg I may not be understood to infer, that our general Convention was divinely inspired when it form’d the new federal Constitution … yet I must own I have so much faith in the general government of the world by Providence, that I can hardly conceive a transaction of such momentous importance to the welfare of millions now existing, and to exist in the posterity of a great nation, should be suffered to pass without being in some degree influenc’d, guided and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent Beneficent Ruler, in whom all inferior spirits live & move and have their being.”
Alexander Hamilton wrote of the Constitution in his Letters of Caesar, 1787: “Whether the New Constitution, if adopted, will prove adequate to such desirable ends, time, the mother of events, will show. For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system, which, without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests.”
George Washington opened the Constitutional Convention, stating: “Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God.”
Harry S Truman wrote in his Memoirs-Volume Two: Years of Trial and Hope: “The men who wrote the Constitution knew … that tyrannical government had come about where the powers of government were united in the hands of one man. The system they set up was designed to prevent a demagogue or ‘a man on horseback’ from taking over the powers of government … The most important thought expressed in our Constitution is that the power of government shall always remain limited, through the separation of powers.”
Ten days after his inauguration, President Washington wrote to the United Baptist Churches of Virginia, May 10, 1789:
“If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the Constitution framed by the Convention, where I had the honor to preside, might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical Society, certainly I would never have placed my signature to it.”
President Washington, the same week Congress passed the Bill of Rights, declared, October 3, 1789: “Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me ‘to recommend … a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness’ … I do recommend … the 26th day of November … to be devoted by the People of these United States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be …”
Washington continued: “That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks … for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed.”
Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “America is another name for opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of Divine Providence in behalf of the human race.”
G.K. Chersterton wrote in “What is America” (What I Saw In America, 1922): “America is the only nation in the world that is founded on creed. That creed is set forth … in the Declaration of Independence … that all men are equal in their claim to justice, that governments exist to give them that justice … The Declaration … certainly does condemn … atheism, since it clearly names the Creator as the ultimate authority from whom these equal rights are derived.”
James Madison wrote to Jefferson, October 24, 1787, that writing the Constitution: “… formed a task more difficult than can be well conceived … Adding to these considerations the natural diversity of human opinions on all new and complicated subjects, it is impossible to consider the degree of concord which ultimately prevailed as less than a miracle.”
George Washington wrote to Marquis de Lafayette, February 7, 1788: “As to … the new Constitution … it appears to me, then, little short of a miracle, that the delegates from so many different states … should unite in forming a system of national Government.”
Daniel Webster stated: “Miracles do not cluster. That which has happened but once in six thousand years, cannot be expected to happen often … Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution of your country and the government established under it … Such a government, once destroyed, would have a void to be filled, perhaps for centuries, with evolution and tumult, riot and despotism.”
James Madison wrote in Sept of 1829 (Writings 9:351-57): “The happy Union of these states is a wonder; their Constitution — a miracle; their example the hope of liberty throughout the world. Woe to the ambition that would meditate the destruction of either!”
U.S. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge stated in 1919: “The United States is THE WORLD’S BEST HOPE … Beware how you trifle with your marvelous inheritance … for if we stumble & fall, freedom and civilization everywhere will go down in ruin.”
Indeed.
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776
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