Sam Adams to America: “I told you so.”
Upon the whole, we are too apt to charge those
misfortunes to the want of energy in our government, which we have brought upon
ourselves by dissipation and extravagance. —”Candidus”
At
a conference several years ago, during a Q&A panel discussion, a gentleman
asked (paraphrasing), “At what point did things go wrong in America?” He
certainly had in mind the general slide into tyranny we have experienced since
our beloved founders. My response, I think, shocked many people.
Since
we had just been discussing Abraham Lincoln and States’ rights in passing, the
anticipated answer was “The Civil War.” I went back even further to the first great advance of
tyranny: “The Constitutional Convention.”
There
were a couple head nods (surely these had read something like Gary
North’s Political Polytheism),
but for the most part there was silence with several looks of surprise.
I
went on to explain. Few people realize that the Constitution did not create
American freedom, but was written during a period of unprecedented,
already-existing freedom among virtually any people in history (1776–1787). The
Constitution actually centralized many powers and eliminated certain areas of
liberty.
Promising
originally only to revise the Articles of Confederation, the framers emerged
from Philadelphia with a completely different document that greatly centralized
powers at the Federal level, certainly relative to what had been. It was a conscious
coup on the part of those in favor of a strong centralized power. As Thomas
Jefferson would write, looking back late
in life, “[I]n the Convention which formed our government,” the
Federalists “endeavored to draw the cords of power as tight as they could
obtain them.”
Most
people don’t realize, then, that the Constitution was actually the first great
government expansion in this country—an expansion that set the precedent for
much of the tyranny we experience today, believe it or not.
It
was also vigorously opposed by some of the greatest advocates of liberty in our
history, even though they lost out in Philadelphia. It is time we reaffirmed
the ideals of freedom for which these neglected founders once fought, and which
for the space of a few years made this country free.
The
Real Sons of Liberty
Many
of the principal fathers of the American Revolution saw today’s problems coming
in their own time. Despite common sentiments, these prescient men are the least
known, least read, and often completely forgotten figures of that time. They
are not Washington, Madison, and Hamilton. They are not the authors of the
Federalist Papers. These latter were actually the tyrants in the eyes of those
whom I mention.
I
am talking about the authors of the Anti-Federalist
Papers. Few people today even read the much more publicized Federalist Papers.
We’re not taught about them in school. The Papers’ language and concepts are
often found too lofty and difficult, despite the fact that these Papers were
mere newspaper editorials of their time. Few people know of them. Fewer read
them.
Even
fewer read the republican opposition of the day—the radical tea-party types of
the day—the Anti-Federalists.
These
liberty-minded leaders, however, saw the centralizing forces at work during
their day as the sinews of tyranny. They knew absolutely where centralized government power
would lead. On this principle, they opposed the Constitution itself, for it
ceded too much power to the central government.
One
of them, writing under the pseudonym “The Federal Farmer” (possibly Richard
Henry Lee), foresaw the direction of centralizing power as a departure from a
free society, but also as the long-term agenda of a few ambitious leaders:
The
plan of government now proposed [the Constitution] is evidently calculated
totally to change, in time, our condition as a people. Instead of being
thirteen republics, under a federal head, it is clearly designed to make us one
consolidated government.… This consolidation of the states has been the object
of several men in this country for sometime past. Whether such a change… can be
effected without convulsions and civil wars; whether such a change will not
totally destroy the liberties of this country—time only can determine.1
The
Judicial Back Door
Prominent
among their concerns was fear that a Supreme Court would create a path to
tyranny (especially of the wealthy over the common man). “Candidus,” attributed
to Samuel Adams, warned that it would “occasion innumerable controversies; as
almost every cause (even those originally between citizens of the same State)
may be so contrived as to be carried to this federal court.”2 This means, effectively,
the end of State sovereignty, for a partisan Court could construe any decision
it liked, and that decision would stand for every State.
This
fear materialized quickly after the Federalist proponents pressured the States
to adopt the Constitution. Within a mere fifteen years, the nationalist John
Marshall framed the system and then decided the very case he framed—Marbury v. Madison (1803)—in
favor of the nationalist/Federalists and against the Jeffersonians. The
decision established the doctrine euphemized as “judicial review,” by which the
Supreme Court can essentially legislate through their opinions.
Marshall
struck again at States’ rights in McCulloch
v. Maryland (1824), determining that unelected directorsacting in
their own self-interest could run national banks within the States and yet
remain exempt from State regulation. The whole decision was a national scam
that profited big banks and the expansion of government by unelected leaders. I
have covered this case in my article Exposing the Fed Scam.
Having
the Supreme Court in these cases all but ensured that the people would be
tyrannized, just as Candidus said. The Anti-Federalist “Brutus” wrote on the
seemingly insignificant issue of Congress’ rights to set election parameters:
“If the people of America will submit to a constitution that will vest in the
hands of any body of men a right to deprive them by law of the privilege of a
fair election, they will submit to almost anything.”3 When a yawning and
complacent populace agrees to such advances of tyranny, it will take more than
education to restore freedom. It will take pain:
Reasoning
with them will be in vain, they must be left until they are brought to
reflection by feeling oppression—they will have to wrest from their oppressors,
by a strong hand, that which they now [before the Constitution was ratified!]
possess, and which they may retain if they will exercise but a moderate share
of prudence and firmness.4
Things
have only gotten worse over time. The Federal Farmer’s warning came true.
Indeed, time has told: state rights were virtually hijacked by the
nationalists, and with them a variety of the freedoms of individuals.
Freedom
and Self-Government
While
problems can arise also under a decentralized system of freedom, these will not
compare to the tyrannies that grow from the opposite. Candidus warned that we
must “distinguish between the evils that arise from extraneous causes and our
private imprudencies, and those that arise from our government.”5
Power
over vital areas of human action such as commerce, legislation, defense,
taxation, etc., Candidus realized as too precious and precarious to leave to
the decisions of a few men to enact by governmental force; it should rather be
left as decentralized as possible. Paying lip-service to the beloved leaders of
the day, he foresaw that “though this country is now blessed with a Washington,
Franklin, Hancock and Adams,” elected leaders shall not always possess such
integrity, and “posterity may have reason to rue the day when their political
welfare depends on the decision of men who may fill the places of these
worthies.”6
In
such times as he foresaw, when we lament the decisions of those elected
leaders, we ought also to lament the centralized nature of the Federal
government, and educate ourselves in the type of freedom mentioned here by
Candidus. This type of freedom comes from the people, not from the government.
This, however, presupposes a people who can govern themselves and possess
themselves in responsibility and integrity. Freedom begins with the will of a
people to live free, not with a people looking to power to secure themselves
benefits at the expense of others. Indeed, Candidus warned that “coertion with some persons
seems the principal object, but I believe we have more to expect from the affections of the people, than
from an armed body of men.”7
Freedom,
again, begins in the affections of the people. But like now, Candidus saw
corrupt government as enabled by a pacified, fearful, and gluttonous people. He
wrote this astoundingly prophetic passage:
Upon
the whole, we are too apt to charge those misfortunes to the want of energy in our government,
which we have brought upon ourselves by dissipation and extravagance; and we
are led to flatter ourselves, that the proposed Constitution will restore us to
peace and happiness, notwithstanding we should neglect to acquire these
blessings by industry and frugality.—I will venture to affirm, that the
extravagance of our British importations,—the discouragement of our own
manufactures, and the luxurious living of all ranks and degrees, have been the
principle cause of all the evils we now experience; and a general reform in
these particulars, would have a greater tendency to promote the welfare of
these States, than any measures that could be adopted.—No government under
heaven could have preserved a people from ruin, or kept their commerce from
declining, when they were exhausting their valuable resources in paying for
superfluities, and running themselves in debt to foreigners, and to each other for articles of
folly and dissipation:—While this is the case, we may contend about forms of
government, but no establishment will enrich a people, who wantonly spend
beyond their income.8
I
cannot think of a more relevant prophetic warning to America—a warning which
went unheeded and which now we bear the consequences: debt to both foreign
nations and consumer corporations, largely due to extravagances in individual
living, coupled with aversion to work and save. (I took a whole book to reflect on this passage and
what it would take to get our freedoms back.) This is true at the level of
individuals as well as at every level of government, punctuated by the bailouts
of Marshall’s beneficiaries, the over-leveraged big banks, and continual pork
projects for favored big-businesses. Sure enough, the government—despite its endless
promises to the contrary—has not saved us from decline and moral decay, nor can
it.
Assuming
the ascription of “Candidus” to Samuel Adams is correct, we should expect a
keen scolding were he here today. We should expect another Boston Tea Party
over the coercive encroachments of government. Indeed, what have we in our
latest installment but the tariffs (!)—the
very instrument that instigated the original Tea Party? How about 20 or 30
times the level of taxation for which our founders were willing to shed their
blood.
Taxation with representation has
turned out far worse that the the cause of war. We ourselves are far worse
tyrants than King George III ever thought of being. We cheer fireworks
celebrating our declaration of independence from him, which has in the meantime
meant greater slavery at our own hands.
We
should, therefore, also expect from Sam Adams today a severe inventory of our
private lives, our manner of work ethic, our manner of thrift, and our moral
integrity to sacrifice for the cause of freedom.
We
have failed in all of these areas, and we have received the government we
deserved. Sam could well say, “I told you so,” and we would deserve it.
For
some reason, however, I doubt he would. I suspect he would rather get to work
on the proper remedy for Restoring America—beginning with personal
repentance over our moral failures, continuing with an establishment of a
lifestyle of work and frugality, and leading into a program of rolling back the
size and scope of government until the only government officials with whom
individuals have contact come only from the local county.
Notes:
1. In The Complete Anti-Federalist, 7
vol., ed. by Herbert J. Storing (University of Chicago Press, 1981), 2.8.4.()
2. “Essays by Candidus,”
in The Complete
Anti-Federalist, 4.9.13.()
3. “Essays of Brutus,”
in The Complete
Anti-Federalist, 2.9.53.()
4. “Essays of Brutus,”
in The Complete
Anti-Federalist, 2.9.53.()
5. “Essays by Candidus,”
in The Complete
Anti-Federalist, 7 vol., ed. by Herbert J. Storing (University of
Chicago Press, 1981), 4.9.13.()
6. “Essays by Candidus,”
in The Complete
Anti-Federalist, 4.9.15.()
7. “Essays by Candidus,”
in The Complete
Anti-Federalist, 4.9.15.()
8. “Essays by Candidus,”
in The Complete
Anti-Federalist, 7 vol., ed. by Herbert J. Storing (University of
Chicago Press, 1981), 4.9.18.()
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