Thoughts on the Constitution 3
The Preamble (continued)
The next stated purpose of the Constitution was to insure domestic Tranquility. This
refers to the maintaining of peace and order both within and between the
states. After the War for Independence there were uprisings in a number of
states that threatened to undermine, if not to completely overthrow local
government. Most of these disturbances grew out of protests over taxes levied
by the states to pay their war debts. In some states taxes were higher after
the war than before. Perhaps the most serious threat to domestic tranquility within a state came in the form of
Shays’ rebellion. This was an armed uprising in central and western
Massachusetts in 1786-1787, led by Daniel Shays, a farmer and veteran of the
war. The rebellion began with protesters shutting down county courts in order
to put a stop to hearings involving the collection of debts and taxes. When
some of the leaders of the protest movement were arrested, the more radical members
organized an armed force which was eventually defeated in June 1787, while the
Philadelphia Convention was meeting.
It was not only such disturbances within the states, but also
disputes between the states that caused the framers to fear. It might seem odd
at this point in history to think of war breaking out between the states, but
this was a matter of no little concern at the time. Alexander Hamilton dealt
with the issue at length in Federalist 6, 7, 8, and 9, and James Madison in
Federalist 10. The historical record shows that the attention they gave the
matter was not at all unwarranted. Hamilton listed a number of potential
reasons for states to go to war with each other if there were not a stronger
federal government to arbitrate between them. Among these, he mentions disputes
over: borders between the states, claims
to western territories, foreign trade (taxes on imports and exports),
interstate trade, payment of the national debt, and enforcement of contracts
between citizens of different states.
The fourth purpose of the Constitution was to provide for the common defence, that is, to defend the republic
against aggression, whether from the neighboring Indian tribes or from the
nations of Europe. This could be done far more effectively if the states acted
together rather than separately. One of the great weaknesses of the Articles of
Confederation was a woeful inefficiency in waging war. The Articles did not
provide the federal government with the power to call out troops or to enforce
requests for money from the states in order to fund the operations of war. As a
result, the continental army continually found itself running dangerously short
of men and supplies.
The next stated purpose of the Constitution was to promote the general Welfare. We will
discuss this important (and much abused) clause more fully when we come to
Article I, Section 8. The basic idea, however, is that one of the purposes the
new federal government was to promote what tended to the good of the country as
a whole, rather than what favored this or that state or region of the country,
or this or that segment of the population.
The sixth and last purpose of the Constitution was to secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity. We find here an echo of the Declaration of
Independence. In the Declaration the Founders had named “Life, Liberty, and the
Pursuit of Happiness” as unalienable rights given to all men by their Creator.
Further, they stated that governments were instituted among men “to secure
these rights.” The language in the Declaration is very similar to what we find
here in the Preamble. In the Declaration the Founders expressed their resolve
to gain the blessings of liberty
while in the Constitution they took measures to guard the liberty so recently won,
and at so great a cost.
[1]
The Debates in the Several State
Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, as Recommended by the
General Convention at Philadelphia in 1787, edited by Jonathan Elliot, 5
vols. (Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott
Company, 1891), vol. 3, p. 22. The debates are available to download for free
at www,forgottenbooks.org
[2]
The Anti-Federalist Papers and the
Constitutional Convention Debates, ed. Ralph Ketcham (New York, NY: The Penguin Group, 1986), p. 207
[3]
The Debates in the Several State
Conventions, p. 44
[4]
See Forrest McDonald, States’ Rights and
the Union: Imperium in Imperia,
1776-1876 (Lawrence, KS: University
of Kansas, 2000)
[5]
Federalist No. 39
[6]
He means the Congress as it existed under the Articles of Confederation, in
which each state had equal representation. The members of Congress under the
Articles were chosen by the state legislatures, which is what the Constitution
originally required in the Senate. Prior to the passage of the 17th
Amendment, Senators were not elected by the people of the states as they are
today; they were chosen by the state legislature. Compare Art. I, Sec. 3 and
Amendment XVII.
[7]
Ibid.
[8]
Madison concludes by saying, “In its foundation it [the Constitution] is
federal, not national; in the sources from which the ordinary powers of the
government are drawn, it is partly federal and partly national; in the
operation of these powers, it is national, not federal; in the extent of them,
again, it is federal, not national; and, finally, in the authoritative mode of
introducing amendments, it is neither wholly federal nor wholly national.”
[9]
The Debates in the Several State
Conventions, vol. 3, p. 150
[10]
Cited in Joseph Story, Commentaries on
the Constitution of the United States, par. 488, n. 2, originally published
in 1833 (http://www.constitution.org/js/js_306.htm)
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