Rediscovering Americanism ONE AMERICANISM I OFTEN WONDER WHAT Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, James Madison, John Adams, George Mason, Benjamin Franklin, and the other Founders would think about today''s America. What about the earliest Boston revolutionaries, men like Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren, John Hancock, and Paul Revere? Of course, they would be mesmerized by all the modern inventions and conveniences of everyday life, but what of the ubiquitous nature of the federal government? Surely they would object. In Liberty and Tyranny I wrote: "So distant is America today from its founding principles that it is difficult to precisely describe the nature of American government. It is not strictly a constitutional republic, because the Constitution has been and continues to be easily altered by a judicial oligarchy that mostly enforces, if not expands, the Statist''s agenda. It is not strictly a representative republic, because so many edicts are produced by a maze of administrative departments that are unknown to the public and detached from its sentiment. It is not strictly a federal republic, because the states that gave the central government life now live at its behest. What, then, is it? It is a society steadily transitioning toward statism."1 Moreover, do most Americans appreciate liberty, the civil society, republicanism, and economic prosperity or fear their loss? Of course, if you ask someone the question about himself, he is likely to answer yes, although he might wonder about his fellow citizens'' grasp and gratitude.

But the issue is more perplexing and vital to the future of the American republic than one might initially imagine. An incalculable number of philosophers and scholars, ancient to modern, have written extensively about these topics. It is beyond my mortal competence or the physical limitations of this book to catalog or probe them all here. Although five of my six earlier books have addressed these subjects in various ways, there is great value if not urgency in exploring them further from an additional or a more thorough perspective, given what I believe to be their precariousness in modern America. Thus we must tackle the matter of first principles. After all, this is our heritage. This is not a mere academic or theoretical exercise among elitists, of interest only to professors and navel-gazers. It sits at the core of human existence and American society and, therefore, is relevant to us all.

These principles, and understanding them, serve as the antidote to tyrannical regimes and governments. I am well aware that this book will not change the course of history. But if it can open a few eyes it will have served its purpose. I shall do my best to make my writing accessible and interesting to the broadest audience without compromising content. In this book, I quote substantially and directly from various philosophers and thinkers to provide the reader with a real understanding and feel for what is being argued and proposed. In addition to extensive endnotes, I also provide book and essay titles and sources throughout the body of this book, thereby making it easier for the reader to go to those sources on their own should they want to further explore them. Nonetheless, this book will require the reader''s focus and engagement as it covers much material in relatively short order. It is fitting to begin our journey with the final letter written by one of America''s greatest Founders, Thomas Jefferson.

On June 24, 1826, Jefferson, who was quite ill, wrote to Roger Weightman from Monticello, declining his invitation to participate in the fiftieth-anniversary celebration of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson would become bedridden two days later and die on July 4, the same day his good friend in later years, John Adams, passed away. In great pain from numerous ailments, and now writing with his left hand since he had earlier broken his right hand, which never healed properly, Jefferson wrote: Monticello June 24. 1826 Respected Sir The kind invitation I receive from you on the part of the citizens of the city of Washington, to be present with them at their celebration of the 50th. anniversary of American independence; as one of the surviving signers of an instrument pregnant with our own, and the fate of the world, is most flattering to myself, and heightened by the honorable accompaniment proposed for the comfort of such a journey. [I]t adds sensibly to the sufferings of sickness, to be deprived by it of a personal participation in the rejoicings of that day. [B]ut acquiescence is a duty, under circumstances not placed among those we are permitted to control. I should, indeed, with peculiar delight, have met and exchanged there congratulations personally with the small band, the remnant of that host of worthies, who joined with us on that day, in the bold and doubtful election we were to make for our country, between submission or the sword; and to have enjoyed with them the consolatory fact, that our fellow citizens, after half a century of experience and prosperity, continue to approve the choice we made.

[M]ay it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains, under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings & security of self-government. [T]hat form which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. [A]ll eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. [T]he general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view. [T]he palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. [T]hese are grounds of hope for others. [F]or ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them. (Italics added) I will ask permission here to express the pleasure with which I should have met my ancient neighbors of the City of Washington and of its vicinities, with whom I passed so many years of a pleasing social intercourse; an intercourse which so much relieved the anxieties of the public cares, and left impressions so deeply engraved in my affections, as never to be forgotten.

With my regret that ill health forbids me the gratification of an acceptance, be pleased to receive for yourself, and those for whom you write, the assurance of my highest respect and friendly attachments. Th. Jefferson2 As Jefferson wished, we now "refresh our recollection of these rights" and turn straightaway to the Declaration of Independence and carefully examine its language. Its wording is crucial and purposeful. And its link to natural law is inextricable and imperative. It begins as follows: "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, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind." It states further: "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."3 (Italics added) The near-universal appeal of this wording and these principles among America''s Founders is underscored further in other important historical documents of this period.

The Virginia Declaration of Rights was adopted on June 12, 1776, thereby predating the Declaration of Independence by a few weeks. It was principally drafted by George Mason, who would also play a significant role at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The prominence of the Virginia Declaration is indisputable as some of its language was, in fact, borrowed by Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence. Moreover, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Samuel Adams used similar language in drafting future declarations of rights and constitutions for their own states. Section 1 of the Virginia Declaration provides: "That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety."4 (Italics added) The Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, adopted on August 16, 1776, and whose main author was Franklin, states, in Section 1: "That all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and inalienable rights, amongst which are, the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety."5 (Italics added) Article I of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, adopted in 1780, and whose authors included John Adams and Samuel Adams, states: "All men are born free and equal, and have cert.