Men Governing Men difficulties and how the Constitution solves this~James Madison and Federalist 51

 “In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” James Madison, Federalist 51.

What is the difficulty that Madison is referring to? To answer this question we must look at the difficulties that this government faces with the administration of government as men over men. Some of these key reasons are: men all have their own interests and opinions, too much power given to the government to enforce laws, and primary control.

Men all have their own interest and own opinions. In the Federalist papers No. 10 James Madison states “Pure Democracy is the most vile form of government…” this meaning that if only the people rule, there would be too much personal opinion put into the decisions made and laws that are given. As Judge Scalia said it is his personal opinion that flag burning should not be allowed. However, he goes on, as a constitutional right flag burning should be allowed as stated in amendment one referring to freedom of speech. Referring back to Madison, as Judge Scalia demonstrated, personal opinion is not ideal in government therefore Pure Democracy is vile.

Too much power is given to the government when men govern men. When there are no principles to set up checks and balances, personal opinion is the hardest thing to combat against in government. Without the principles needed to stop this “Pure Democracy” there would be too much power given to a single man, or a group of men, and the people would rule. Democracy with a combination of a Republic is the best form of government because there isn’t an overwhelming amount of personal opinion, and there isn’t a lot of high amounts of government control

Primary Control is popular sovereignty voting-we chose the men that are governing us. But is this the best form of government according to James Madison? Madison stated in Federalist 51 “A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.” Some of those Auxiliary Precautions are Division of Power and Separation of Power.

These Auxiliary Precautions are the way Madison believes the Constitution solves the difficulties. Beginning with the Division of Power which is defined as the difference between National government and state government stated in the 10th amendment also known as Federalism. Going back to Federalist 51 James Madison said “In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” This statement is referring to the Federal vs. the State Government and shows the Auxiliary Precautions and Checks and Balances that are necessary to solve the difficulties of men governing men.

Finally the Separation of Power which is the Checks and Balances between the three branches of government. With this system no one branch can have full power. There is a distinct authority between each branch and each has their own responsibilities given to them. Each can check each other and make sure no one is doing anything out of their field. Another check is created within the Legislature because there are two houses within that branch. The senate can make sure the house isn’t doing anything wrong and the house can in turn do the same thing.

As a summary the difficulties with men governing men are: men have their own interests, too much power is given to the government, and primary control. The way to fix these difficulties is through Auxiliary Precautions such as The Division of Power, and the Separation of Power. 

            

What about the Constitution makes it an Inspired Document?

The Constitution is a greatly inspired document. There are many key reasons as to why. Some key reasons: the statement “We the people,” the first amendment, and checks and balances.

                Both Checks and Balances and the statement “We the People” offer equality in the government. One of the principles of the gospel is teaching saints to treat one another with kindness and love, which leads to equality. Equality is essential in our form of government and the constitution mentions that. It wasn’t until later that this nation was made entirely equal with the abolishment of slave ownership. This led to allowing the blacks to have the priesthood which in turn made this church more equal and the nation more equal.

                Checks and Balances are necessary in rule of law, and with checks and balances it makes no one in the government above the law. This makes God the ultimate ruler which is an inspired doctrine. Even in the ancient days after the reign of King Mosiah, the judges were set up. The judges had a system of Checks and Balances which made God the Ruler of law. A poor example of the Ruler of law was through King George III when he put himself above the law when making laws against the colonies. God needs to be the high ruler and Checks and Balances makes this possible with the inspiration that is given to those men in the Legislative, Judiciary, and Executive branches. Why do those men get inspiration? The Evidence is found in D&C 101: 76-80 when it talks about how God inspired the men that authored the Constitution. If this was true in that day, it must be true today with the men in government.

                The Statement “We the People” other than just showing equality, also shows unity. It’s not We the States, but We the People. It goes on to say of the United States of America. The word United sticks out, and gives evidence to unity. The saints need to be unified so that those simple words “We the People of the United States of America” show that this place, Zion, is unified.

                The first amendment is, if not the, most important part of the constitution for our church. It gives us the Freedom of Religion, Speech, and Press. The section about Religion is very important, because without it this church could not exist. We may have even been required to only practice one religion and Zion could not exist in this system of government. The First Amendment is vital and for the reason that it is in the Constitution gives evidence that the Constitution was inspired.

A reference to this country being Zion is shown in 1 Nephi 13:12. It talks about a man coming across many waters to a free land. This man was Christopher Columbus. It gives evidence that this land is Zion and in order for it to be Zion, the Constitution had to have been inspired.

Inspiration for the Constitution is given through many concepts some of which are: Checks and Balances, the statement “We the People”, and the First Amendment. How could this document not be inspired?

The Moral Foundation for the American Struggle for Independence

Why the colonists in America were morally justified to declare Independence in 1776? There are many key reasons as to why the Colonists were justified in there revolt. To name a few one has to understand the basis of where the justifications are coming from. Key reasons:  Great Britain was exercising taxation without representation, the colonists Natural Rights were being violated, King George III was being the ruler of law rather than obeying the rule of law, and Great Britain was cutting off trade.

Taxation without representation is a situation in which a government imposes taxes on a particular group of its citizens, despite the citizens not consenting or having an actual representative deliver their views when the taxation decision was made (investopedia.com). The colonists deserve this right if they are under rule of Great Britain. When the British government started taxing the colonists of the goods they were selling to them, without sending a representative to deliver the views was an immoral and unjustified based on the precedence that had preceded the taxation. Taxation inevitably lead to the declaration of independence and a war with Great Britain. The Sugar Act of 1764 was and is a great example of Taxation without Representation.  It was designed to raise Revenues not just on sugar but on essentials of the time such as coffee, textiles, etc.  This was a departure on Precedence that the colonists had previously had with King George I and King George II.

The colonists Natural Rights were being violated. Natural Rights are god given rights that always exist even in a state of no government, which are Life, Liberty, and Property.  The British government was violating these rights with the way they were treating the Colonists. They were taking away their property by controlling America as their own. It says in the Declaration of Independence that they were destroying their property and taking it away.  The Quartering of Troops was unjustified in taking away property because it took away the privacy that is entitled with Property, Life, and Liberty. Property is a Natural Right and therefore should not be tampered with, because in turn the Life and Liberty will be violated as well. Life was being taken away, especially with the unjustified government ordered murders of people revolting against the British Empire and even those who were innocent.  Murdering above the law was unjustified which is something King George was starting to make unfair for the colonies. Liberty was also being taken away. No one has the right to govern someone based on power and control. It should be justified and based on organization and the Proper Role of Government with the creator as the ruler of law. When Great Britain sought to control the colonists and give them taxation without representation this took their liberty away. When King George enacted the right of royal figures to not have to have trial in the colonies for murder, this basically took away the liberty of the people and was unjustified. It also took away the Life because the trial would then be held in Great Britain and with the Kings control most likely be dismissed. The colonists have the right to protect their Natural Rights.

The ruler of law rather than the rule of law was evident in King George. He put himself above the law in many ways. The Declaration of Independence gives a whole list of why he was unjustified in his treatment of the colonists and why they were morally correct to declare independence.  One of which was the destruction of Property, again going back to the Natural right of Property.  Everything that he did was morally wrong and violated Natural Rights. He is known as the ruler of law. He put himself above the law in the attitude of basing his decisions not on the basis of Law but on the basis of his own personal opinion. The people should be the rulers and for King George to base his decisions off of his personal judgments and the judgments of his close associates gave the people no voice especially for those colonists who are fighting for their life liberty and freedom.  Government does not function well when there is a ruler of law. It is unmoral and again takes away Natural Rights which is another proof of the moral intensions of the colonist in revolt.

Cutting of trade was one of the biggest key reasons for the moral proof that the colonists could revolt against their mother country. The taxes on the trade in the Sugar act greatly pushed back the colonist’s ability to afford the already expensive Luxuries shipped from great Britain. At the time Great Britain seemed to be the main trade central of the time, and with the colonies being cut off from trading, basically they were cut off from the world. This was very unjust of King George to stop trade for the colonies which basically stopped the way of life. The only was the colonies were to trade was through smuggling or through paying the astronomical British tax prices. The East India Trade Co. was able to get Tea to the Colonies in a legal way and a cheaper way which greatly aided the colonies. Most of the legal tea was being shipped from the Indies to Great Britain and then again on toward the colonies. However, a revolt was brewing and the Boston Tea Party took place. The Stamp Act would have greatly affected the colonies were it not for the revolting of the colonists which help aid toward the breakoff of independence.

The government at the time was very morally justified in fighting against Great Britain in revolt for the reasons, among others, of Taxation without representation, the right to protection of Natural Rights, overriding the ruler of law to implement the rule of law, and being angry over the fact that cutting off trade was unjustified and moray incorrupt. George the III got what he deserved when the colonist broke away from his country.

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