What are the Constitutional Principles?
| Introduction | ||
| In 1776, the Second Continental Congress declared the United States’ independence from the Empire of Great Britain with a statement of principles. These principles, rooted in an understanding of natural rights and the experience of self-rule, outlined the foundations of a new nation. This set of principles and ideals have guided and shaped the public life and the American character. The American people continue to strive to realize more fully these principles and ideals. Drawn from an examination of human nature and the purposes of government, these principles and virtues define the framework of American republican government of ordered liberty, but they are also universal principles for all humans. Together with essential civic virtues, they help form the conscience of the nation against which Americans judge the justice of their laws. These civic virtues bind a self-governing people together in communities that facilitate a healthy civil society and are necessary to the enduring survival of the republic. As Americans we believe it is essential to understand and implement these fundamental or founding principles and civic virtues.
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| Understanding the Principles | ||
| The foundations of the government of the United States are oriented around the ideas of liberty and equality as articulated in the natural rights tradition of John Locke and others. This tradition holds that, by nature of their existence, human beings possess rights, independent of any governing or societal power. In the maintenance of these rights natural rights thinkers saw the greatest possibility for individuals to flourish through the freedom to direct their own lives. The people maintain their freedom and rights through formal institutions of government and informal community traditions and institutions. This maintenance requires the people to be vigilant and informed in order to ensure that these institutions are directed towards their right ends. It was an understanding of these fundamental principles that informed the design of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. The principles contained below define the protections built into the Constitution for this purpose. In understanding these principles, We the People are better able to protect and advance freedom and opportunity for all.
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| Definitions
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| This list of principles is not meant to be comprehensive but instead to be a starting place for the Investigation of the American experiment in self- government.
NATURAL RIGHTS FOUNDATION These are the philosophical principles which provide the focus for the governing structure of the United States.
Natural/Inalienable Rights Rights which belong to us by nature and can only be justly abridged through due process. Examples are life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness.
Liberty Except where authorized by citizens through the Constitution, government does not have the authority to limit freedom.
Equality All individuals have the same status regarding their claim as human beings to natural rights and treatment under the law.
CONSENT & REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENTThese principles of republicanism provide the foundations upon which the sovereignty of the people within government is maintained.
Majority Rule/Minority Rights: Laws may be made with the consent of the majority, subject to the limitation that those laws do not infringe on the inalienable rights of the minority.
Consent of the Governed/Popular Sovereignty: The power of government comes from the people.
LIMITED GOVERNMENT To keep the governing power to its proper scope, government must be limited and provide recourse for citizens to be protected from arbitrary power.
Limited Government Citizens are best able to pursue happiness when government is confined to those powers which protect their life, liberty, and property.
Due Process The government must interact with all people according to the duly-enacted laws and apply these rules equally with respect to all people.
AUXILLARY PRECAUTIONS To keep government within these limited bounds, there must be rules that bind both individual citizens and government action.
Rule of Law Government and citizens all abide by the same laws regardless of political power. Those laws are justly applied, consistent with an ethos of liberty, and stable.
Checks and Balances Constitutional powers are distributed among the branches of government allowing each to limit the application of power of the other branches and to prevent expansion of power of any branch.
Federalism The people delegate certain powers to the national government, while the states retain other powers; and the people, who authorize both the states and national government, retain all freedoms not delegated to the governing bodies.
Separation of Powers A system of distinct powers built into the Constitution, to prevent an accumulation of power in one branch.
BILL OF RIGHTSAs a final recourse against government abuse, the Founding generation codified a list of rights that they believed were essential to the maintenance of their constitutional governing structure.
Freedom of Religion The right to choose one’s religion or form of worship, if any, without interference; freedom of conscience.
Freedom of Speech, Press, and Assembly The legal right to express one’s opinions freely, orally or in writing, and the right to gather with others in groups of one’s choice without arbitrary or unreasonable restrictions.
Private Property The natural right of all individuals to create, obtain, and control their possessions, beliefs, faculties, and opinions, as well as the fruits of their labor.
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