Hamilton suggests that tyranny often can hide behind a mask of concern for the rights of the people. He said: "On the other hand, it will be equally forgotten that the vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty; that, in the contemplation of a sound and well-informed judgment, their interest can never be separated; and that a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government."

The Founding Fathers were very familiar with tyranny and human motivation. They recognized that tyrants often covered they tyranny with a claim to protect the rights of some people. Remember, Hitler claimed that he was invading other countries to protect the rights of ethnic Germans. Others may claim protecting other's rights while only working to gain profit and power. It was their understanding of human nature that led them to write checks and balances into the Constitution.
Question: What motives may be behind an outward concern for the rights of the people?
Source: Federalist No. 1

Focusing on the Constitution- by George Sweeney

"The government is for the people; and the misfortune was, that the people had no agency in the government before....If the government is to be binding on the people, are not the people the proper persons to examine its merits or defects?"
-Governor Edmund Randolph in THE DEBATES IN THE CONVENTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, ON THE ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.

The US Constitution was originally a combination of a national and federal constitution. It was national in that the authority came from the people in order to establish the new government. It was also federal because the states agreed to share and surrender certain authorities with the new government.

Question: Why does the authority for government come from the people that are governed?

The World’s Three Foundational Documents (non-scriptural)of Freedom: They are: 1. The Declaration of Independence adopted on July 4, 1776 by all 13 colonies; 2. the Constitution, with its Preamble, signed by 39 Founders on September 17, 1787, then finally ratified by all 13 states; and 3. The Bill of Rights which became a part of the Constitution on December 15, 1791. <<>> At the time these documents were written, debated, then adopted by the citizens of the 13 states of a fledgling nation over 99 percent of the world lived under tyrannical government. Since the United States became a free and independent nation the principles of freedom established by 122 wise men raised up, as Jefferson wrote, by "Nature’s God," freedom has encompassed the globe, but it was bought with the shedding of much blood, the currency of freedom. Question: Can this nation’s freedoms be lost? How?

Source: America’s History - # 617 - 143 - 4-29-06 - dsc.

Question: How does limited government help a free market?

The one principle that I believe wraps together all of the rest of the principles of a market economy is the concept of limited government. Adam Smith, author of The Wealth of Nations (Bantam Classics), wrote the following:

The statesman who should attempt to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals, would not only load himself with a most unnecessary attention, but assume an authority which could safely be trusted to no council and senate whatever, and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it.

Governments are by nature unable to quickly respond to a ever changing market. Government is unable to avoid inserting bias into the decision process, giving favor to one sector or another of the market, thus directly or indirectly suppressing other sectors. One should read The Road to Serfdom, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition; by F. A. Hayekin order to gain a fuller appreciation of the folly of government controlled economies.

(At the same time that government should be restrained from controlling the market there is a proper place for government and its courts in order to enforce contracts and to ensure a "level playing field," i.e. preventing monopolies and such.)

The two items in the Constitution that restricts the federal government most are Amendments IX and X, part of The Bill of Rights. They read:

Amendment IX: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

(Contributed by George Sweeney)

Just over eleven years after declaring independence from England thirty nine men from different states and backgrounds signed a document that changed the course of not only the history of a new nation but began a ripple that has spread out around the world. This ripple was the wave of an idea, that all men had the right to govern themselves and responsibility for their liberty. This wave challenged forever more the concept that certain people had the right to rule over others. No, God gave to all men the heavenly and eternal right to choose their own path.

And these, our Founding Fathers codified in the Supreme Law of the Land our freedom. They codified the people's responsibility to maintain the law. They gave us a limited government to protect us from tyrants they knew would come and would take away our freedom but left the people as the guarantor of the Constitution, the people and their representative they would select.

July 4, 1976 America declared itself free. September 17, 1787 America established that foundation of this freedom. September 17, 2007 is the day we can remember this Constitution, the day each and every one of us can say "I will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," not only today but every day.

Speech given to the Rockdale Kiwanis on November 4, 2004
by George Sweeney

Thank you for your invitation to speak on a subject very dear to my heart, the Constitution of these United States of America and the freedoms the Founding Fathers of this nation secured to us.

Deliberation over the type of government

Our Founding Fathers were students of history and politics. They witnessed first hand the tyranny of a monarchy. History revealed to them the folly of a pure democracy. Both, unchecked, lead to tyranny, of a monarch or some elite group, or in a democracy of a minority that is able to sway the masses with emotions.

In their Declaration of Independence they affirmed the belief in these words. "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."

The concept that governments were instituted of men was new in the day. Governments were instituted by whomever could seize power and hold it. Oft times those taking power claimed divine right.

In 1787 distinguished gentlemen from 12 of our 13 original states gathered together to correct the problems of a Confederation they established during the Revolution. The flaw was that the confederacy was too week to hold the states together and protect them. The states were certain to divide asunder if a better government was not established. The governments of the world saw us as having no government and many here agreed.

Men such as George Washington and James Madison urged a convention to make changes to the Confederation and strengthen our government. They feared that if they failed to correct the problems currently in the Confederation they would soon cease to be a nation and fall pray to the plans of the powers of Europe as well as wars between the states.

After long deliberation and frequent argument they brought forth a contract between the people and the government. The People in this contract granted to the government certain powers and denied them others.

They set up a system of checks and balances:
Federal vs. State
House vs. Senate
Executive vs. Legislative vs. Judicial
People vs. Government

They understood the nature of man. They understood that when someone is given power they would tend to seek more. They understood the saying "power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely." Thomas Jefferson said, "In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution."

So they set forth our government understanding the ambitions of men. Here is their genius; they set ambition against ambition. They did not merely rely on the goodness of men and women, they relied on their ambitions for greater power to give check to one another and thus preserve our God-given-rights.

At the same time they realized that the continuation of this nation under this Constitution was reliant on the character of its people. John Adams said, "Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

Not only is our Constitution made for people of this character but also our very freedoms are dependent on the same.

The Constitution is not a "living document."

There are those today that would tell us that the Constitution is a "living document" that can be changed to meet our times. Article VI of our Constitution is very specific. It states "This Constitution, ... shall be the supreme Law of the Land..."

Madison asked the question "Can it be of less consequence that the meaning of a Constitution should be fixed and known, than a meaning of a law should be so?" (Madison, 1865, IV, page 185)

I would echo this question in another question. Can a contract between two parties be reinterpreted at will by one? We all know this is not so but there are people that would have us believe that they can change the meaning of our Constitution by adding to or taking away in court decisions. They even give parts entirely new meanings from those meanings given by the composers of the Constitution. A contract can only be interpreted by the original wording and intent expressed in the wording.

The Constitution has within itself its own mechanism of adapting to the times. This mechanism being by amendment. This is the same way that laws, contracts and bylaws are changed, by amendment. They established this method of amendment to be difficult so that the Constitution could not be changed in haste and could not be changed without the consent of the state legislatures.

Citizen Advocates for Constitutional Principles.

I come here today representing the Citizen Advocates for Constitutional Principles. This organization was started by individuals that believe that our form of republic, as established by the Constitution, to be the best form of government on earth. We seek to follow George Washington's advice to the Nation at the occasion of his final address as President. He said, "A primary object ... should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing ... than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?" (George Washington - Farewell address - 1797) We seek not only the education of the youth but the public at large.

In order to remain free we must know and understand these principles of good government. We must understand that we are all born with certain God given rights and responsibilities. We must understand there are absolutes, lines of morality that should never be crossed.

CACP's endeavor is to have everyone in the world understand the principles of our Constitution. We are working to have it taught in our schools, in our forums.

CACP endeavors to have all of our citizens take part in our democratic republic. To achieve this we will teach how to become involved in the local and national political process.

To help in our efforts we have books, videos and lesson plans for teachers and homeschoolers. These materials can be obtained through our website at CACP.info.

We meet to study the Constitution. We meet to learn how to support it locally and nationally.

Conclusion

I invite each and every one of you to join us at the CACP, to uphold, to revere and to defend the Constitution.

We see in the news attempts to abandon the Constitution or at least to abandon its original intent. Some may ask what can be done to revive it.

Thomas Jefferson suggested that we needed revolution every so often to revive our freedoms and remove tyranny. I think what we need today is another revolution to revive our liberties, not one of arms but of renewed ideas.

John Adams said "The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations ... This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution."

We need a revival of our revolutionary spirit. We need to know that "Government is not reason. Government is not eloquence. It is force. And, like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." (George Washington) We need to take back responsibility for our lives and future. We need to keep government as our servant, not our master.

We need to talk about the principles of the Constitution in our schools, our Churches, our meeting halls and our homes.

Join us of Citizen Advocates for Constitutional Principles to speak up for our Constitution and learn how to keep it that way.

Let me conclude with these words from Calvin Coolidge. "The Constitution is the sole source and guaranty of national freedom."

The Preamble

The Preamble was placed in the Constitution more or less as an afterthought. It was not proposed or discussed on the floor of the Constitutional Convention. Rather, Gouverneur Morris, a delegate from Pennsylvania who as a member of the Committee of Style actually drafted the near-final text of the Constitution, composed it at the last moment. It was Morris who gave the considered purposes of the Constitution coherent shape, and the Preamble was the capstone of his expository gift. The Preamble did not, in itself, have any substantive legal meaning. The understanding at the time was that preambles are merely declaratory and are not to be read as granting or limiting power - a view sustained by the Supreme Court in Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905).
The Heritage Guide to The Constitution - Edwin Meese III; page 43

Question: What role did a preamble hold at the time of the Constitutional Convention?