MICHAEL DRAYTON, “TO THE VIRGINIAN VOYAGE” (1606)

Lurk here at home, with shame As the winds that blow you So absolute the deep All greater than your wish admiration for the New World and its potential, as well as his anticipation of the future of Virginia

MAYFLOWER COMPACT

“In the name of God, Amen” “Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our kind and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia” “We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord, King James” “Covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic” “For our better ordering and preservation” reflects the pilgrims desire for self-governance and religious community

JOHN WINTHROP, “ A MODEL OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY” (1630)

“We must be knit together in this work as one man” “We shall be as a city upon a hill” “Help one another” “We are a people of God” “We must delight in each other, make others’ conditions our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together” vision of a godly society built on love, unity, and mutual support among its members

JOHN WINTHROP “LITTLE SPEECH ON LIBERTY” (1639)

“The great questions that have troubled the country are about the authority of the magistrates and the liberty of the people.” “The exercise and maintaining of this liberty makes men grow more evil and in time to be worse than brute beasts” “This liberty you are to stand for, with the hazard (not only of your goods but,) of your lives, if need be” “The other kind of liberty I call civil or federal; it may also be termed moral, in reference to the covenant between God and man” “This liberty is maintained and exercised in a way of subjection to authority; it is the same kind of liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” Central themes of authority, liberty, and the relationship between the people and their leaders

JAMES MADISON, “MEMORIAL AND REMONSTRANCE AGAINST RELIGIOUS ASSESSMENTS” (1785)

“Religious bondage shackles and delibitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise” :The religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate. This right is in its nature an unalienable right” “We maintain therefore that in matters of religion, no mans right is abridged by the institution of civil society and that religion is wholly exempt from its cognizance” “True it is, that no other rule exists by which any question which may divide a society can be ultimately determined than the will of the majority; but it is also true, the the majority may trespass on the rights of the minority” Emphasizes the importance of individual conscience and the separation of church and state

THOMAS JEFFERSON “VIRGINIA STATUTE ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM” (1786)

“Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme with that free it shall ramin by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint” “That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical” “That our civil rights have no dependance on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry” Core principles of religious freedom as outlined in the statutes, emphasizing the importance of personal belief and the separation of church and state

GEORGE WASHINGTON, THANKSGIVING DAY PROCLAMATION, 1789

“It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits…” “Affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness” “For his kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation-for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence…” “For the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge” “To render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws…” “To promote the knowledge and practice religion and virtue… and to pardon our national and other transgressions” A nation survives and flourishes only through gratitude to God, moral responsibility, and a constitutional government grounded in wise and just laws

WISCONSIN V. YODER (1972)

“The impact of the compulsory-attendance law on respondents’ practice of the Amish religion is not only severe, but insescapable, for the Wisconsin law affirmatively compels them… to perform acts undeniably at odds with their religious beliefs” “ The values and programs of secondary school were in sharp conflict with the fundamental mode of life mandated by the amish religion” “The court held that the individual’s interests in the free exercise of religion under the first amendment outweighed the state’s interests in compelling school attendance beyond the eighth grade” “The amish provide “an alternative, informal vocational education… designed to prepare them for adult roles within the amish community” Highlights the conflict between amish life and high school is fundamental. The case becomes a landmark example of strict protection for minority religious practices when state laws intrude too deeply

LEE V. WEISMAN (1992)

“A government may not coerce anyone to support or participate in religion or its exercise” The school created “a state- sponsored and state-directed religious exercise in a public school” The schools rule creates “subtle and indirect coercion (students must stand respectfully and silently), forcing students to act in ways which establish a state religion” Although the school did not technically require students to attend graduation, the importance and pressure on students to attend made it effectively obligatory” Shows that public schools wield unique authority over students. Coercion in the school context includes social pressure, not just legal compulsion.

TOCQUEVILLE, DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA (VOL. I, PT.2, CH. 9)

“I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion—for who can read to the bottom of hearts?—but I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions.” “Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot.” “In the United States the majority takes charge of furnishing individuals with a mass of ready‑made opinions, and thus relieves them from the necessity of forming their own.” “The moral authority of the majority is so great that there is no appeal from its judgments.” “While the law permits the American people to do everything, religion prevents them from conceiving everything and forbids them to dare everything.” philosophical foundation for Tocqueville’s later warnings about soft despotism and the tyranny of the majority

TOCQUEVILLE, DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA (VOL. II, PT.1, CH. 15)

“The very essence of democratic government consists in the absolute sovereignty of the majority; for there is nothing in democratic States which is capable of resisting it.” The legislature is, of all political institutions, the one which is most easily swayed by the wishes of the majority.” “The members of both houses are taken from the same class in society… so that the modifications of the legislative bodies are almost as rapid and quite as irresistible as those of a single assembly. Whilst the law increased the strength of those authorities which of themselves were strong, it enfeebled more and more those which were naturally weak.” It deprived the representatives of the executive of all stability and independence… and robbed them of the slender influence which the nature of a democratic government might have allowed them to retain.” Analyses of majority power, intellectual domination, and the psychological pressures that democratic equality creates

JOHN LOCKE, SECOND TREATISE

Being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.” Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of this estate… without his own consent.” “To understand political power right… we must consider what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom… within the bounds of the law of nature.” “A state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another.” “The power of the legislative, being derived from the people by a positive voluntary grant… can be no other than what that positive grant conveyed.” “Political power… is a right of making laws… for the regulating and preserving of property… only for the public good.” “Tyranny is the exercise of power beyond right… not for the good of those who are under it, but for his own private separate advantage.” Humans are naturally free and equal. They possess natural rights grounded in reason. Political authority is created by consent to protect those rights. Government is limited to the ends for which it was created. When a government violates those ends, people have a right to resist and replace it

THOMAS JEFFERSON, “ A SUMMARY VIEW OF THE RIGHTS OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA” (1774)

“Our ancestors… possessed a right which nature has given to all men, of departing from the country in which chance, not choice, has placed them, of going in quest of new habitations, and of there establishing new societies, under such laws and regulations as to them shall seem most likely to promote public happiness.” The king is “no more than the chief officer of the people, appointed by the laws, and circumscribed with definite powers… erected for their use, and consequently subject to their superintendence.” Complaints arise from “unwarrantable encroachments and usurpations, attempted to be made by the legislature of one part of the empire, upon those rights which God and the laws have given equally and independently to all.” “Nor was ever any claim of superiority or dependence asserted over them by that mother country from which they had migrated.” “America was conquered, and her settlements made, and firmly established, at the expense of individuals, and not of the British public.” “The colonies “have often individually made humble application… to obtain… redress of their injured rights, to none of which was ever even an answer condescended.” the colonies were free communities whose rights came from nature and their own political inheritance—not from Parliament, and the king’s role was limited, conditional, and subject to the people’s supervision.

JAMES OTIS, “THE RIGHTS OF THE BRITISH COLONIES ASSERTED AND PROVED” (1764)

“I affirm that government is founded on the necessity of our natures; and that an original supreme sovereign, absolute, and uncontrollable earthly power must exist in and preside over every society… It is therefore originally and ultimately in the people.” “Supreme absolute power is originally and ultimately in the people; and they never did in fact freely, nor can they rightfully make an absolute, unlimited renunciation of this divine right.” “It is ever in the nature of the thing given in trust, and on a condition… that the person or persons on whom the sovereignty is conferred… shall incessantly consult their good.” “Tyranny of all kinds is to be abhorred, whether it be in the hands of one, or of the few, or of the many.” “It is evidently contrary to the first principles of reason that supreme unlimited power should be in the hands of one man.” All power originates in the people, not in hereditary rulers. Natural rights cannot be surrendered, even by consent. Government is a conditional trust, created to secure the public good. Absolute power is inherently tyrannical, not matter who wields it. The colonies, as british subjects, retain the same natural and constitutional rights as britons in england

JOHN ADAMS, “THOUGHTS ON GOVERNMENT” (1776)

“The happiness of society is the end of government, as all Divines and moral Philosophers will agree that the happiness of the individual is the end of man.” “Nothing can be more fallacious than [the maxim] ‘That which is best administered is best.’” “If there is a form of government then, whose principle and foundation is virtue, will not every sober man acknowledge it better calculated to promote the general happiness than any other form?” “It should be in miniature an exact portrait of the people at large. It should think, feel, reason, and act like them.” “A people cannot be long free, nor ever happy, whose government is in one assembly.” “All these errors ought to be corrected and defects supplied by some controlling power.” Government exists to secure happiness, not domination. Virtue is essential for republican self-govenment. Representation must be broad and equal, not narrow or elite. Power must be divided to prevent tyranny. Bicameralism and check and balances are necessary to restrain human passions.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (1776)

“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.” “Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…” “…and 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.” “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes…” “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations… evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government…” “The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.” “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…” Human equality is the moral foundation. Natural rights define what government must protect. Consent is the only source of legitimate political power. Revolution is justified when government becomes destructive

THOMAS PAINE, “COMMON SENSE” (1776)

“Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil.” “Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness.” “One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it… by giving mankind an ass for a lion.” “Small islands… are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something absurd in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island.” “Until an independence is declared, the continent will feel itself like a man who continues putting off some unpleasant business… yet knows it must be done.” “Common sense will tell us, that the power which hath endeavored to subdue us, is of all others the most improper to defend us. “Ye that oppose independence now… ye are opening a door to eternal tyranny.” Government exists for the people, not the other way around. Monarchy is irrational, corrupt, and contrary to natureal equality. Britains rule over America is unnatural and harmful. Independence is both morally justified and practically avoidable. The american struggle is part of a universal fight for human liberty.

THOMAS JEFFERSON, LETTER TO HENRY LEE, MAY 8, 1825

“This was the object of the Declaration of Independence… an appeal to the tribunal of the world for our justification.” “Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of… but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent.” “It was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion.” “All its authority rests then on the harmonizing sentiments of the day, whether expressed in conversation, in letters, printed essays, or in the elementary books of public right, as Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, &c.” The declaration was not mean to be original. It summarized widely shared american political principles. Its purpose was to justify independence to the world. Its ideas came from a long tradition of natural-rights and republican thought. It was crafted to give those ideas the tone and clarity the moment required.

VIRGINIA CONSTITUTION (1776)

“That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights… the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.” “That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.” “Government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people… and whenever any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, inalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it.” “That no man, or set of men, is entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments or privileges from the community… neither ought the offices of magistrate, legislator, or judge to be hereditary.” “That the legislative, executive, and judicial departments should be separate and distinct… and that the members thereof… should, at fixed periods, be reduced to a private station, and the vacancies be supplied by regular elections.” “All elections ought to be free; and all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community, have the right of suffrage.” Natural rights as the foundation of political order. Equality as moral and political principle. Popular sovereignty as the source of all legitimate power. Government as a trust for the common good. Right of revolution when government violates its purpose. Rejection of hereditary privilege. Separation of powers and free elections as structural protections for liberty.

PENNSYLVANIA CONSTITUTION (1776)

“All government ought to be instituted and supported for the security and protection of the community as such, and to enable the individuals who compose it to enjoy their natural rights and the other blessings which the Author of existence has bestowed upon man.” …whenever these great ends of government are not obtained, the people have a right, by common consent, to change it and take such measures as to them may appear necessary to promote their safety and happiness.” “The said king has not only withdrawn that protection, but commenced… a most cruel and unjust war against them… whereby all allegiance and fealty to the said king and his successors are dissolved and at an end.” “…proper forms of government exist… derived from and founded on the authority of the people only.” “All men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and inalienable rights…” “All power is derived from the people.” Natural rights are the foundation of political authority. Government exists only to secure those rights. The people are the ultimate sovereign, and may alter government when it fails. Monarchical authority is rejected, because the king violated the social impact. A radically democratic system- including a unicameral legislature and broad suffrage- flows from these principles

ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION (1781)

“Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States…” “Under the Articles each of the states retained their ‘sovereignty, freedom and independence.’” “The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare.” “…binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them…” State sovereignty is primary; the national government is secondary and derivative. The union is a voluntary league, not a consolidated nation. The central government’s role is limited to defense, diplomacy, and collective welfare- without real enforcement power.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON, LETTER TO JAMES DUANE (1780)

“The fundamental defect is a want of power in Congress.” “An excess of the spirit of liberty which has made the particular states show a jealousy of all power not in their own hands.” Congress has been “timid and indecisive… constantly making concessions to the states, till they have scarcely left themselves the shadow of power.” “Congress lacks “sufficient means at their disposal to answer the public exigencies.” This dependence on the states has “ruin[ed] their influence and credit with the army, [and] establish[ed] its dependence on each state separately rather than… on the whole collectively.” “They have done many of the highest acts of sovereignty… the declaration of independence, the declaration of war, the levying an army, creating a navy… making alliances with foreign powers.” “Undefined powers are discretionary powers, limited only by the object for which they were given—in the present case, the independence and freedom of America.” “The confederation itself is defective and requires to be altered; it is neither fit for war, nor peace.” National power must be real, not symbolic. State sovereignty, as practiced, is incompatible with national survival. Congress needs coercive authority, financial resources, and independence from the states. The articles of confederation are structurally incapable of governing a nation. A stronger, more cnetralized union is necessary for both war and peace.

THE CONSTITUION OF THE UNITED STATES ARTICLE 1 - Legislative Power and Delegated Authority

“All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.” “The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes… to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.” “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers…” Congress as the central lawmaking body with powers limited to those granted- but with flexibility through the necessary and proper clause

THE CONSTITUION OF THE UNITED STATES ARTICLE 2 - Executive Power and National Leadership

“I do solemnly swear… that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and… preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States…” “The President shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed…” Highlight the President’s role as chief executive, commander in chief, and guardian of constitutional order

THE CONSTITUION OF THE UNITED STATES ARTICLE 3- Judicial Power and Independent Courts

“The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may… establish.” “The Judges… shall hold their Offices during good behavior…” Establish judicial independence and a unified federal court system

THE CONSTITUION OF THE UNITED STATES ARTICLE 4- Federalism and Relations among states

“Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State.” “The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.” A person charged with a crime who flees “shall on Demand… be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.” “No Person held to Service or Labour in one State… escaping into another, shall… be discharged… but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.” “The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States.” “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government…” “…and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and… against domestic Violence.” States must honor each other’s laws and court decisions. Citizens of one state must be treated equally in other states. People accused of crimes can’t escape justice by fleeing to another state. Congress controls territories and decides how new states enter the union. The federal government guarantees every state a republican government and protection from invasion or violence.