2. Why We Fight

There is something happening in America!

More than ever in my lifetime, people are hungry for knowledge and truth. They are searching out the formula of our freedom, seeking the principles that somehow made America the most successful nation in the history of the world. They are digging deep and they refuse to accept shallow answers while they demand that we return to our roots.

As we journey back to Independence Hall, we may not find the fictional Benjamin Franklin glasses to decode a secret message on the back of the Declaration of Independence (from the movie National Treasures); but we will most certainly re-discover on the front side of our founding documents the secret sauce of American Exceptionalism.

The founding principles, our freedom formula, is in plain language and their restoration simply requires us to read them and then stand up for them.

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The Constitution still works today, even two centuries later, because it was based on timeless principles of jurisdiction that govern human behavior.

Recommended resources for further study:

• Hillsdale College’s Constitution program
• National Center for Constitutional Studies’ program
• The 5,000-Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen
• The Heritage Guide to the Constitution by Edwin Meese, Dr. Matthew Spalding, and Dr. David Forte

“On every question of construction, carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.”^iv

– Thomas Jefferson

“I entirely concur in the propriety of resorting to the sense in which the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation. In that sense alone it is the legitimate Constitution. And if that be not the guide in expounding it, there can be no security for a consistent and stable [constitution], more than for a faithful, exercise of its powers.

“What a metamorphosis would be produced in the code of law if all its ancient phraseology were to be taken in its modern sense.”

– James Madison

“The first and governing maxim in the interpretation of a statute is to discover the meaning of those who made it.”

– James Wilson

“The first and fundamental rule in the interpretation of all documents is to construe them according to the sense of the terms and the intentions of the parties.”^v

– Joseph Story

“[T]he virtue which had been infused into the Constitution of the United States … was no other than the concretion of those abstract principles which had been first proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence.… This was the platform upon which the Constitution of the United States had been erected. Its virtues, its republican character, consisted in its conformity to the principles proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence and as its administration … was to depend upon the … virtue, or in other words, of those principles proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Constitution of the United States.”²ix

– John Quincy Adams, at “The Jubilee of the Constitution”

Which three states voted against Independence on July 1, 1776?

The Framers’ Formula for Lasting Freedom

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”^xi

The Declaration of Independence includes four essential principles that hold our freedom firmly in place:

Self-evident Truths & Endowed by Our Creator

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness.… The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them.”^xii

– George Washington

“Mr. President, the small progress we have made after four or five weeks close attendance & continual reasonings with each other—our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many noes and ays, is methinks a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the Human Understanding. We indeed seem to feel our own want of political wisdom, since we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of Government, and examined the different forms of those Republics which having been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution now no longer exist. And we have viewed Modern States all round Europe, but find none of their Constitutions suitable to our circumstances.”

“In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings?

In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible to danger, we had daily prayer in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor… [H]ave we now forgotten that powerful Friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth–that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?

We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writing, that ‘except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel…

I therefore beg leave to move–that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business…”

– Benjamin Franklin, Declaration and Constitution Signer

“The real wonder is that the Constitutional Convention overcame so many difficulties. And to overcome them with so much agreement was as unprecedented as it was unexpected. It is impossible for the pious man not to recognize in it afinger of that Almighty Hand which was so frequently extended to us in the critical stages of the Revolution.”

– James Madison, Father of the Constitution

“For my own part, I sincerely esteem a system which, without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests.”

– Alexander Hamilton, Constitution Signer & co-author of the Federalist Papers

“As to my sentiments with respect to the new Constitution, it appears to me little short of a miracle. It demonstrates as visibly the finger of Providence as any possible event in the course of human affairs can ever designate it.”

– George Washington, Constitution Signer & Presiding Officer of the Convention

The Pursuit of Happiness

“A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor bread it has earned – this is the sum of good government.”

Thomas Jefferson

They were soon exporting corn and thriving.

“This had very good success; for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted, than otherwise would have been; by any means the Governor or any other could use, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better content.”^xxi

– Gov. William Bradford

NOTE: Remember all this when we get to the Commerce Clause in Article 1, Section 8!

Consent of the Governed

“Now, more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature.… If the next centennial does not find us a great nation … it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.”^xxii

– President James Garfield

“It is a great mistake to suppose that the paper we are to propose will govern the United States. It is the men whom it will bring into the Government and interest in maintaining it that is to govern them. The paper will only mark out the mode and the form. Men are the substance and must do the business.”^xxiii

– John Francis Mercer, delegate
to Constitutional Convention

Assignments:

In your own words, why is it important to study the Declaration of Independence in a class on the Constitution?

Using the full text of both documents in Appendix 2 and 3 of this book, compare Declaration grievance #3 to Article 1, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution. Then find the Clause in the Constitution that is connected to the following Grievances in the Declaration:

The founding fathers believed that a lack of patriotism was selfishness:
“Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for the support of societies as natural affection is for the support of families.
The amor patriae [love of country] is both a moral and a religious duty. It comprehends not only the love of our neighbors but of millions of our fellow creatures, not only of the present but of future generations.”

– Benjamin Rush

EPISODE TWO TAKE AWAYS:

1. The Founders were much like us, from every profession and background; busy with their lives, but willing to give of their lives, fortunes and sacred honor. We can do the same thing.
2. The Founders did not agree on everything. We do not need 100% of Americans to agree on every issue in order to restore our Constitutional Republic. A small percentage of 5% to 7% can move the entire nation in the right direction.
3. We must be patriots, like the Founders, and stand up and defend freedom on our watch.