Thomas Jefferson and Abuses - Research Paper Example

Thomas Jefferson and Abuses: “The Declaration of Independence” and “The Constitution of the United s of America” Aware of the tendency of power to degenerate into abuse, the worthies of our country have secured its independence by the establishment of a Constitution and form of government for our nation, calculated to prevent as well as to correct abuse. --Thomas Jefferson to Washington Tammany Society, 1809. The language of the revolutionary era and the enlightenment remain with us today. Tom Paines The Rights of Man was published only 4 years after the “The Constitution of the United States of America” was passed on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and then ratified by conventions in each of the thirteen United States (formerly the thirteen colonies) in the name of "The People". In Europe, the United Kingdom and North America advocates of the rights of man frequently railed against the abuses of tyrannical governments. The introductory quotation indicates that Jefferson realized that all governments share “a tendency of power to degenerate into abuse. These fundamental beliefs are evident today in terms like human rights abuse. The following discussion will examine these concepts in “The Declaration of Independence” and “The Constitution of the United States of America”. The first part of the discussion will detail the alleged abuses that were cited by Thomas Jefferson as a justification for American independence. Then how the Constitution (the original text and the first ten amendments) sought to prevent such abuses in the new republic will be examined. A concluding selection will revisit the ethical underpinnings of Jeffersons thought on rights, abuse and tyranny. The word abuse only appears in the “Declaration” once, in the second paragraph: But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. However, the remainder of the document consists largely of a catalog of these abuses, these examples of Despotism and tyranny (words that also appear in the “Declaration” and can be taken to mean a government that abuses the rights of its citizens. These are the facts that the “Declaration”, “submitted to a candid world.” According to the “Declaration” these abuses consisted of: 1. “He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.” 2. “He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.” 3. “He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.” 4. “He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.” 5. “For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.” In total, the “Declaration”cites 27 of these types of abuses of the rights of the people to representative democratic government and divinely granted “certain unalienable Rights... [to] Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”. Further, the “Declaration” stated that these abuses demanded a change in the form of government. When one authority “evinces a design to reduce them [the governed] under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” The new Guards for their future were embodied in the “Constitution” and the first ten amendments commonly referred to as “The Bill of Rights”. The “Constitution” provided for a tripartite system of federal government with an executive (the President), a legislature (the Senate and House of Representatives comprising the Congress), and an independent judiciary. It was intended that the three branches of the federal government would provide checks and balances on the operations of one another. Additionally, any rights that were not specifically assigned to the federal government resided in the states and the balance between state responsibilities and federal responsibilities was seen as a further brake on the power of the federal government and its tendency to degenerate into abuse. In these general terms the structure of the new Republics government was intended to reduce the possibility of tyranny, specifically monarchical tyranny, akin to that which the North American colonies had suffered under during the decades prior to the “Declaration of Independence”. The “Bill of Rights” provides stark evidence of how fresh memories of British Despotism were for the colonists. The Second Amendment held that the people retained the right to bear arms to defend themselves against internal (governmental) enemies as well as external threats. The Third Amendment protects against the imposition of federal troops as the British had once done, “No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.” Arguably, however, it is the First Amendment that has come to be an absolute cornerstone of American democracy, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Freedom of speech, of religion, of assembly, of the press and of religion is all encompassed in the First Amendment Most of the remaining Amendments in the “Bill of Rights” address the legal tricks and traps that the Crown had employed against the former colonists. Trial by jury is assured, the right of search and seizure is constrained, and excessive bail and other vexatious conditions of imprisonment are circumscribed. The notorious Fifth Amendment stating no person “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself ,” is also included in the “Bill of Rights”. All of these specific legal issues addressed in the “Bill of Rights” may seem arcane or trivial today. However, in the 1780s these very abuses were fresh in the minds of the former colonists. The “Constitution” aimed to protect the residents of North America from their own federal government ever becoming as oppressive as the former British monarchs had been perceived to be. To this end the “Constitution” established firm constraints on the federal government and a system of checks and balances to discourage the predominance of one branch of the government. To this end also the “Bill of Rights” prescribed the most heinous abuses of Imperial Despotism. Works Cited “Bill of Rights.” Web. http://memory.loc.gov/cgibin/ampageollId=llsl&fileName=001/llsl001.db&recNum=144. Accessed 10 August 2010. “The Constitution of the United States of America.” Web. http://www.america.gov/media/pdf/books/constitution.pdf. Accessed 10 August 2010. “The Declaration of Independence.” Web. http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/ Accessed 10 August 2010. Read More