Covenants, Part IV - Pursuing Perspective and Precepts

In the previous lesson we examined the question "Is the Constitution Constitutional?"

Pursuing Perspective and Precepts

"The end does not justify the means." Ayn Rand

In all fairness, the Constitution of the United States of America occupies a unique place in history, although, its basic elements have been seen in the centralization of governments for thousands of years. The creation of the institution called the "United States" was a valiant attempt by men to create a central exercising authority in hopes of bettering the condition of man without loosing control of that power vested in that government. From the days of Pharaoh, Saul and Rome such efforts often ended in disaster.

A detailed study, a broader approach and a critical eye upon that history is highly recommended to understand the context and condition in which that document rose to prominence and the perils wrought in its consummation.

There are two forces operating in governments.

1. To guarantee the safety of the people there is a granting of power by the people to government;

2. And there is an imposition of limitations by the people to guarantee the safety of the people from government.

People are fond of attributing the United States' success, prominence and power to its constitution. There are many factors that compose our past and present and the constitution and the institutions it created are only one part of that equation. Not disregarding the unspoiled natural resources of the land itself, it is the people that have made this nation great.

In early America there was a higher rate of literacy than in Europe or Britain, even higher than it is today. You had to know how to read to study the Bible and it was religious zeal and faith that had been a great motivating factor in the settling of North America. Education was important, even paramount but faith in higher principles, precepts and purposes was paramount.

Every home had a collection of books as a prize treasure. Without TV, radio or other distractions, books and the sharing of them and the ideas they contained was a common practice. Books like Gibbon's The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire had been published. There was a keen interest in governments and how they worked or did not work. The quest for Civil Freedom was another equable pursuit of those early adventures to America. There were more law books per capita in America than anywhere else in the world.

It was the inuring conditions of survival and endurance that played a purifying process for those early Americans. There was no social security, the people were responsible for their family's needs, protection, education and condition. The burden of this responsibility cultivated an independent and self reliant character unprecedented in America ever since. Shouldering that responsibility is correlative to maintaining the rights so equated with freedom.

There are many people who espouse the Constitution as sacred but do they really understand it? "Lawyers are being graduated from law school by the thousands who have little knowledge of the constitution. When organizations seek a lawyer to instruct them on the Constitution they find it nearly impossible to secure one competent." ¹

As we showed in Part I the People were "not a party" to that Constitution and the vast majority opposed it.
http://www.hisholychurch.info/study/covenants/ccc1.php

This does not mean they opposed many of the noble concepts contained in it but that they saw certain dangers in its creation and implementation. Patrick Henry was one of its most ardent opponents yet he served in an office under its authority. Most Americans saw great dangers in that structure and form of government and to know their concerns is to be forewarned and forearmed.

"A constitution is a body of precepts the purpose of which is to control government action until modified in some authorized manner. These precepts may be either written or unwritten"²

What was the constitution of those people if they opposed the Constitution of the United States? What did Samuel Adams mean, on August 1, 1776 when he said, "Our Union is complete; our constitution composed, established, and approved. You are now the guardians of your own liberties. We may justly address you, as the decemviri did the Romans, and say: 'Nothing that we propose can pass into law without your consent. Be yourself, O Americans, the authors of those laws on which your happiness depends.'"

We will be looking for the answers to these questions and more in the articles to come but we shall not limit our search to the brief history of America but we shall examine the whole history of mankind. To not study and learn all you can about institutions and enterprises that have such a dynamic grip and integral influence over our lives and the lives of our children is foolishness and folly.

Anyone on the net can seek out the Anti-Federalist Papers to see the opposing views, pitfalls and dangers. Ruination and downfall so common in history might be more readily avoided with a diligent effort to understand the opposing fears and trepidation of such a central governing power.

"Those who fail to learn from history
are doomed to repeat it" Georges Santayana

Our entire concept of history has been greatly influenced through the writing and rewriting of history in our modern text books.

I highly recommend reading,

"School to Fool"
http://www.hisholychurch.info/sermon/school.html

And "New Lamps for Old!"
http://www.hisholychurch.info/sermon/lamps.htm

It is not the constitution which was written as if good men would take office but the exercise of principles of freedom and God given law upon which our faith should rest. When the Constitution or any group of men go contrary to those precepts we should be prepared and remain free enough from debt and obligation to follow those truths and precepts and not be bound to follow men who walk contrary to the principles upon which liberty is founded.

Footnotes:

¹ The Committee on American Citizenship, ABA , Denver,Co. July 14, 1926.

² Clark's Summary of American Law.