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To Secure the Blessings of Liberty: The Making of the Constitution
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13477 |
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Section : |
SPECIAL SECTION
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| Issue
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9 / 1987 |
5,054 Words |
| Author
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Forrest McDonald
Forrest McDonald is professor of history at the University of
Alabama and author of Novus Ordo Seclorum. |
On the eve of independence, the American people were sorely divided against themselves; but the patriots of 1776 were, at least in principle, nearly unanimous in their understanding of what independence entailed. The short-range necessity was to win on the battlefield what they had proclaimed in the halls of Congress. The longer-term necessity, in the language of the Declaration of Independence, was "to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
Patriots were also agreed that the proper ends of government were to protect people in their lives, liberty, and property; and that liberty was the most precious of these, for men were willing to sacrifice the other two for its preservation.
It is important to understand the intensity of their passion for their heritage of freedom. Listen to the words of Joseph Warren, a leader of the Sons of Liberty who was soon to be killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill:
Our fathers having resolved never to wear the yoke of despotism, and seeing the European world...a prey to tyranny, bravely threw themselves upon the bosom of the ocean, determined to find a place in which to enjoy their freedom, or perish in the glorious attempt.
Public speakers echoed this sentiment again and again: "The voice of your fathers' blood cries to you...we bled in vain, if you, our offspring, [lack valor] in your exertions for the preservation of your liberties." Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut later recalled the spirit of 76: "When we rushed to arms for preventing British usurpation, liberty was the argument of every tongue. This word...is sacred, next to those we appropriate for divine adoration."
When the Revolution began, a great many Americans believed that liberty or freedom required no definition. Liberty trees could be planted, liberty poles could be erected, chapters of the Sons of Liberty could be formed, and Patrick Henry could declare, "Give me liberty or give me death" - all without having to give deep thought to what was involved in the concept. But an astonishing number of Americans did devote deep thought to the subject. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that, for two decades prior to the meeting of the Constitutional Convention, American political discourse was an ongoing public forum on the meaning of liberty. In town meetings and country conventions, at
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