Thomas Jefferson and the Constitution
| slaves. However,what they fail to notice is that Jefferson was under no pressure to invoke his immortal words, and that they were used to ultimately make the institution of slavery extinct in the United States. Jefferson’s own draft of the Declaration was very strong. In it, he made clear that Blacks were human and that slavery was a moral abomination and a blot upon the honor of the country. It seems that he had to settle for what finally was accepted by his contemporaries. Jefferson was serving in an official capacity in Paris while the Constitution was being drafted and played no direct part in framing it. He made known his thoughts, however, the most important being the omission of a Bill of Rights. After the Constitution was drafted, he returned to the Unites States to serve as Secretary of State in the Washington administration. In the 1790s, he challenged Alexander Hamilton’s views of extensive government power, warned against mounting Federal debt, a growing patronage machine and dangerous monarchial aspirations. After a tumultuous contest for the presidency, Jefferson presided over the first peaceful transition of power in modern history. He assured those that he had defeated that they too had rights. His observation: “We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists,” established a standard that has endured to this day. As president, Jefferson sought to rally the country around the principles of limited government. In his first inaugural address, he reminded his fellow citizens that their happiness and prosperity rested upon a “wise and frugal government.” This governing would restrain us from injuring one another and leave us otherwise free to regulate our own pursuits of industry and improvement and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread that it has earned. He also strongly defended private property because it encouraged industry and liberty, and most importantly, because he thought it just that each individual enjoy the rights to the fruits of his/her labor. In 1816, he once again insisted that the tasks of a liberal republic were few: government should restrain individuals from encroaching on the equal rights of others, compel them to contribute to the necessities of society and require them to submit their disputes to an impartial judge. He also believed that the Constitution must keep pace with the times. If the people wished to alter their frame of government, they were free to do so. He believed that this should be done by constitutional amendment and not by construing the powers of government broadly. He particularly objected to the courts sitting in judgment of the legislative and executive branches or acting as an umpire between the states and the federal government. He believed that to cede this authority to the courts would make the Constitution a “ball of wax,” and render it meaningless. Today, in the age of government ownership of once private corporations, of government bailouts to the favored, of expansive federal power and of courts ‘interpreting’ the Constitution, we should ponder the wise words of Thomas Jefferson. His warnings are as true today as they were in the 1800s. In the words of Lincoln: “All honor to Jefferson.” |
John Pinto's column
By John Pinto
We just celebrated Independence Day. We have come a long way since 1776. Today, the federal
government intrudes on every aspect of our lives. The intention of the Constitution, as set up by the founders,
was that government be as frugal and non-intrusive as possible.
The Declaration of Independence established Thomas Jefferson as one of the great political minds of all
time. Abraham Lincoln recognized this when he wrote, “All honor to Jefferson — to the man who in concrete
pressure of a struggle for national independence by a single people, had the coolness, forecast and capacity
to introduce into a merely revolutionary document, an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times.” He
went on to say that this truth stands as “a rebuke and stumbling block to the very harbingers of reappearing
tyranny and oppression.” Lincoln’s words are true to this very day, although our elected representatives are
still trying to oppress us!
The abstract truth that Lincoln spoke of is “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 —
That to secure these rights Governments are instituted among Men deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed.” (Note: In the times of Jefferson and Lincoln, the word “men” was used to signify
humans. Jefferson’s words have inspired generations around the world, even if people were specifically
unaware of them. In his own country, Jefferson has been accused of being a hypocrite, because he owned