The founding of this nation was based on five key principles.

1. The Founding Principles
James D. Best

2. “The infant periods of most nations are buried in silence, or veiled in fable,
and perhaps the world has lost little it should regret. But the origins of the
American Republic contain lessons of which posterity ought not to be
deprived.” James Madison

3. Historical Novels
Nonfiction

4. Tempest at Dawn
 Twelve year project
 Novelization of Constitutional Convention
 Inside Chamber—True to Madison’s notes
 Outside Chamber—events historical or
based on circumstantial evidence
 Accurate character presentation
 Alternating Points of View

5. Agenda
1. Why are the Founding Principles important?
2. Why is the United States unique?
We did not evolve or arise from war
Study, thought, debate, and decision
3. How these principles became embedded in Constitution
4. How they’ve been eroded

7. 5 Years Since End of Revolution
• Articles of Confederation not working
• National government couldn’t collect taxes
• War Debts not being paid
• No common or sound money
• States negotiating with foreign powers
• Commerce, states taxing each other
• Shays’ Revolt
• Political leaders feared mob rule

8. What Are The Founding Principles?
 Rights come from God, not government
 All political power emanates from the people
 Limited representative republic
 Written Constitution
 Private property rights
What the Founders would agree on prior to Constitutional Convention.

9. • Founding Principles disavowed Divine Right and Mercantilism
• Declaration, sermons, debates, newspapers, pamphlets
• Common education —Enlightenment
Aristotle, Montesquieu, Locke, Hume, Adam Smith
• Differing opinions on details of government
State vs. National government
Slavery
Strong legislature vs. balanced power
Power of executive
Western lands
Agrarian vs. industrial
Enfranchisement

10. Rights Come From God, Not Government
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to
assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to
which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them…
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

11. • Governments did not protect rights
• Governments threatened rights
• Limiting government power protects rights

12. All Political Power Emanates From The People
“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among
Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed” — Declaration of Independence
“What is a Constitution? It is the form of government, delineated by the mighty
hand of the people, in which certain first principles of fundamental law are
established. The Constitution is certain and fixed; it contains the permanent will
of the people, and is the supreme law of the land … and can be revoked or
altered only by the authority that made it.” —William Paterson, Delegate to the
Federal Convention
A Revolt Against Divine Right of Kings

13. Limited Representative Republic
James Madison, Delegate to the Federal Convention
“We may define a republic to be … a government
which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from
the great body of the people and is administered by
persons holding their offices during pleasure for a
limited period.”
“If Congress can do whatever in their discretion
can be done by money, and will promote the
General Welfare, the Government is no longer a
limited one…’
The Founders believed that liberty depends on each part of the
government acting as an effective check on all the other parts

14. Written Constitution
Since the Mayflower Compact, Americans have wanted the
rules of government written down.
A social contract based on reason, where the people
hold political power, must be in writing, so everyone
can study, debate, and approve it.
“An unwritten constitution is not a constitution at all”—Thomas Paine (?)

15. Private Property Rights
“The pillars of our prosperity are the most
thriving when left most free to individual
enterprise.” Thomas Jefferson
• Influenced by Adam Smith
• Free markets build wealth
• The Founders believed private property rights and liberty were intertwined.
• Property defined broadly
• If government allows bullies to take what they want, anarchy reigns.
• If government gathers up property unto itself, oppression reigns.
• Few restraints on the industrious, the inventive, and the entrepreneurial

16. United States Constitution
• Consistent with Founding Principles
• Ratified by conventions of the people
• Limited representative republic
1. Enumerated Powers
2. Separation of Power
3. Checks and Balances
4. States Check National Government
5. Leaders Selected by Different Means
6. Varying Terms
7. Restricted taxing authority
8. Separation of church and state

17. • Ratification not easy or a given
• Subject of discussion and argument
• Taverns
• Sermons
• Town meetings
• Federalist and Anti-Federalist
• Ratification Debates

18. An entire nation collectively
approved the Constitution

19. Original Constitution had no Bill Of Rights
• Government did not bestow rights
• Enumerated powers—limited authority
• Government not an agency to protect rights
• Bill of Rights added by First Congress
• Bill of Rights remains consistent with Founding Principles
• Not a list of rights—government restrictions
Congress shall make no law
shall not be infringed
shall not be violated
nor be deprived
shall not be required

20. 9th Amendment
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or
disparage others retained by the people.
10th Amendment
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it
to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

21. Erosion started almost immediately

22. • Hamilton/Jefferson rivalry
• Alien and Sedition Acts—John Adams
• Louisiana Purchase—Jefferson
• Foreign Entanglements/War—Madison
• Leader of the New World—Monroe
• Huge New Federal Programs—John Quincy Adams
• Populism and Progressivism—Jackson
• Supreme Court Rulings

23. Erosion Was Not With Consent of the People
George Washington
“If in the opinion of the people the distribution or
modification of the constitutional powers be in any
particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in
the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be
no change by usurpation.”

24. The Founding Principles
• Unalienable rights come from God, not government
• All political power emanates from the people
• Limited representative republic
• Written Constitution
• Private property rights

25. “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Benjamin Franklin

26. Thank You