The founding fathers in America, role models

The American tradition based on values ​​of reciprocal respect has been emulated by several countries of the free world, among which the incorporation of a good part of these values ​​in the Argentine constitution of 1853 is counted. Therefore, it is particularly interesting to trace the influences and the legacy of this nation which, unfortunately, for some time, has diminished in its fervor until it becomes a frank regression. I recorded this long story in my book called United States vs. United States, where in a detailed investigation I try to respond to what has been said.

In this journalistic note, I limit myself to a few very narrow aspects referring to the intellectual origin of the most fruitful revolution to date in the history of mankind, which we hope will be restored in its principles. cardinals thanks to the efforts of very worthy institutions which are they worry and take care of nourishing the central aspects of this succulent origin.

There are two central lines in this story. The first one should focus on the formation of the father of the Constitution of the United States, James madison who was a student of John Witherspoon invited from England to chair in New Jersey the center of studies which later became Princeton University, in turn educated at the universities of Edinburgh and St. Andrews in the tradition begun in the 16th century by the specialist in natural law George Buchanan graduated from the University of Paris and, in turn, professor of characters like Michel de Montaigne. Buchanan sponsored the idea of ​​a law anchored in milestones or benchmarks outside the walls of positive legislation before the eminent Algernon Sidney and John Locke.. His imprint can be seen in the works of the precursors of the Scottish school – Adam Smith, David Hume and Adam Ferguson – who were primarily Francis Hutcheson and Greshom Carmichael.

The second line refers to Roger williams, the Apostle of the clear separation between religion and political power in Rhode Island, a Cambridge University graduate and former secretary to none other than Edward Coke backed by the common lawThis is law as a process of discovery based on decisions of competing courts, as opposed to the notion of law resulting from social engineering and design, a concept also explored and signed by William Blackstone. Coke emphatically referred to “la lex aeterna, moral law, also called natural law”.

In 1792, Madison underlined the central role of the monopoly of force which we call government by writing that “the government was instituted to protect property” with what links the idea of ​​equality before the law with justice, which according to the classic definition is “Give everyone their own” and “his” translates into the property of each, a vital institution for making the most of the always scarce factors of production to better serve the needs of others. Earlier, in 1788, he had written that “we have heard the unholy doctrine of the old world that the people were made for the king and not the king for the people,” which marks the skill and sense of the apparatus of ‘State.

The principles inherent in the American Magna Carta were disseminated primarily through eighty-five public letters in the newspapers during the years 1787 and 1788. known as Federalist roles signed with the pseudonym of Polybius by the aforementioned Madison, by Alexander Hamilton and by John Jay which generated a very interesting and substantial debate with a group called “anti-federalist” in opposition to the first but in reality more federalists than the federalists and who ‘they realized introduce agendas in points that are summarized in the inclusion of the first constitutional amendments, as well as public letters with pseudonyms referring to the ideas of freedom. It is particularly relevant to underline the insistence of the anti-federalists in what was the Ninth Constitutional Amendment that “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights should not be interpreted as ignoring or belittling others whom the people hold back. . ” In other words, to emphasize that no exhaustive statement is intended and there are unlisted rights.

These principles were also known via the so-called Cato Letters which were one hundred and forty-four published during the period 1719-1723 in homage to Cato “the young” who was the greatest adversary of Julius Caesar in Roman history. The authorship of these letters corresponds to Thomas Gordon and John Trechard.

The scaffolding prepared by the Founding Fathers can be summed up in nine central points. First, the aforementioned conception of law. Second, the distrust of regular armies (Standing armies). Third, the freedom of press Developed primarily but not exclusively by Thomas Jefferson, as fundamental importance has been placed on the most complete and unlimited freedom of expression. Fourth, the due process. Fifth, the above separation between churches and government. Sixth, the importance of possession of weapons as self-defense of citizens. Seventh, the privacy protection in the context of what was said by Benjamin Franklin about the fact that “if you give up the freedom to obtain security, you will have neither”. Eighth, the division of powers within the framework of what has been called “a mixed government” in which reciprocal controls prevail between the judicial, executive and legislative bodies where the filters of elections and polling stations and the posts of life are mixed so as to preserve the existence of the government ”, for which they emphasized the idea of ​​the republic (remember that in the debates of the constitutive convention of Philadelphia, Edmund Randolph pointed out that“ the greatest danger lies in the democratic parts of our Constitution “by which attention should be focused on ensuring strict controls of power and Elbridge Gerry also argued in the same convention that” the evils from which we suffer arise from excessive democracy “, the two demonstrations underlined the fear that the degradation of democracy could turn into kleptocracy). And ninth, federalism in which member states control and limit central government. These principles were reinforced in the Declaration of Independence by introducing the right to resistance against oppressive governments.

James Wilson, one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence and one of the authors of the first draft constitutional text and professor at the University of Pennsylvania wrote that “the government must be established to ensure and extend the exercise of the natural rights of the members and any government that does not have this in mind because its main objective is not a legitimate government. “

As we know, the republic encompasses much more than democracy and is not limited to triggering the majority vote without any restraint. In addition to the principle of equality before the law and the aforementioned horizontal division of powers, it also refers to the alternation of powers, the transparency of government acts and the responsibility of those in power to be accountable to the governed. It is because of the fear of unlimited majorities that the expression democracy has not been used in the American constitutional text (nor in others which have adopted this model as is the case of the Argentine of 1853 above).

In this argument, they argued that Democracy includes a central part which is respect for individual rights and a secondary, ancillary and formal part which is the electoral majorities and first minorities. Nowadays, unfortunately, there is a tendency to substitute the essential for the accessory, with which it is claimed that regimes such as the Chavista in Venezuela or before the Nazis are democratic because they are protected by the first minorities. or majorities, sweeping away the freedoms of the governed which only suddenly became a tyranny. As the Argentine constitutionalist Juan González Calderón taught, the Democrats of numbers or numbers know this because they start from two false equations: 50% + 1% = 100% and 50% -1% = 0%. In that same plane, Jefferson warned in 1782 that “an elected despotism is not the government we are fighting for.”

In addition to the above Madison, Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton and Jay, among the most remarkable founding fathers, in particular the figure of George mason whom Jefferson called “the wisest man of his generation.” Mason was the pioneer in drafting a Bill of Rights in Virginia which was taken as a model for later documents, he was delegated to the Constituent Convention in 1787 and refused to sign the Constitution because he considered that the guarantees of the rights of the people were not sufficient (he even expressed doubts about the convenience of having a central government).

Complete the list of founding fathers John Adams and George Washington. The first was for two terms vice president of Washington, lawyer for Harvard, author of the Constitution of Massachusetts, delegate of that state before the constitutive convention and in the early stages of the revolution, he led and encouraged the uprising of the Stamp Act against the revendications. of George III. The second was the first president of the United States, general of the revolution and it is appropriate to reproduce in 1795 one of his reflections on the need to “keep the United States away from any political link with other countries” , in this sense. is relevant to remember what General Dwight Eisenhower said in his fifteen-minute farewell address to his presidency on February 17, 1961, referring to the temptations of military intervention and warning against using of the “military-industrial complex as the greatest potential danger in our country. “

There have been several manifestations of decline in the United States, the first in disgusting slavery, the second in the creation of the central bank and the progressive tax which necessitated constitutional reform. (se la conoció como la revolución del año 1913), la tercera con los Acuerdos de Génova y Bruselas de los años 20 y la consiguiente crisis del 30, la cuarta con las presidencias de FD Roosevelt que prolongaron y agravaron daños económicas e institucionales y la quinta acelerada from las gestiones del período post-Reagan hasta nuestros días, todos elevando el gasto público, el deficit, la deuda gubernamental y la implantación de nuevas regulaciones que aplastan libertades, intercalando aquí y allá medidas razonables sobres el neto what is said.

Against this decline, the interspersed versions that sought to consolidate the original tradition at different times in history can be condensed into two manifestations. The first of a decision rendered in 1819 by Supreme Court Justice John Marshall: “The power to tax things, the power to destroy things”. The second in another judgment also of the Supreme Court of 1943: “Our rights to life, liberty and property, freedom of speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly and other fundamental rights cannot be subordinated to the vote, they do not depend on the outcome of any election “ (319 US, 624, 639).

In any case, in this telegraphic note, we summarize the most salient aspects of the values ​​upheld by the Founding Fathers, which gave way to other experiences based on mutual respect as an essential food of a free society.

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