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The Moral Crisis: Lessons From the Founding
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13484 |
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Section : |
SPECIAL SECTION
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| Issue
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9 / 1987 |
5,188 Words |
| Author
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Walter Nicgorski
Walter Nicgorski is associate professor in the program of
liberal studies at the University of Notre Dame. |
"No morn ever dawned more favorably than ours did; and no day was ever more clouded than the present."
So wrote George Washington late in the autumn of 1786. He wrote these words in a letter to James Madison, who would also prove to be a leading figure in the Constitutional Convention scheduled for the following May. Washington's words reflected his anguish at the divisive political and economic disputes that, along with an inadequate political framework, seemed to threaten the blessed, bright hope of the recent Revolution.
Against the once rising sun of a new order of ages, Washington's words may also seem to describe our current situation. This new order (novus ordo seclorum) was anticipated from the dual achievements of the successful Revolution and the Constitution. In fact, the glory of the American morn must be seen in even greater fullness to appreciate how fitting Washington's words are to our present situation. Because of those dual achievements, blessed prosperity and bountiful opportunities mark the life of this nation. America's development into the twentieth century comes on the foundation of an orderly expansion throughout a richly endowed landmass, a wrenching and costly struggle with slavery and its profound effects, and an explosion of industrial, scientific, and technological opportunities. These United States, which were once thirteen frail and contentious children of Europe, were able, more than once in this century, to cross the Atlantic to save the lands that were once home. All of this and more was achieved even before this nation had aged and matured under its Constitution for two hundred years. To notice that in those few years the United States came to be foremost among free and modern nations - foremost in achievement, leadership, and as a source of hope to which the world looked is not to be blindly patriotic or narrowly chauvinistic; rather, it is to acknowledge what is still widely known throughout the free world and among those who seek the blessings of freedom and economic development - that American morn was a bright morning for all mankind. The clouds on the American scene today are accordingly a concern to all who have shared the hopes and promises of this new order.
The Moral Crisis
On this two hundredth birthday of the Constitution, the United States is deep in moral crisis. The evidence is shocking and deeply disturbing. Of what does the moral crisis consist? It might be described as the progressive loss of qualities traditionally associated with strong personal character.
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