James Madison

One of America’s greatest founding fathers was a man named James Madison. Madison was hailed as the father of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Through Madison’s efforts with the Constitution and the Bill of rights, he constructed the freedoms and rights that we know today.

But before he constructed the political documents that governed the authority of government and people’s rights, Madison was faced with a difficult question. The question that came to his mind was, “how can the government control the governed while controlling itself?” In his view he believed that there would be factions that would ultimately control the government. To separate these factions Madison devised a system called Federalism. Through federalism the people’s rights would be represented through both the states and the Federal government. In doing this, factions such as religious groups, political parties and other groups couldn’t completely take over the  government due to the divisions in power. Besides the divisions between state/federal governments, Madison composed a system to separate the powers of the federal government.  As Madison pointed out in the federalist papers (essays that promoted the ratification of the Constitution),

 “In order to lay a due foundation for that separate and distinct exercise of the different powers of government, which to a certain extent is admitted on all hands to be essential to the preservation of liberty, it is evident that each department should have a will of its own; . . .

It is equally evident, that the members of each department should be as little dependent as possible on those of the others, for the emoluments annexed to their offices. Were the executive magistrate, or the judges, not independent of the legislature in this particular, their independence in every other would be merely nominal. But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. . . . Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place.” (James Madison, Federalist papers 51.)

Through the separations in the federal government, the checks and balances of power would be in place by three distinctly different bodies of government.  None of these bodies of government would rely on the other but would balance the power to uphold and protect the constitutional rights. With the rights of the citizens protected by the republican government, no faction could completely control the government. Similarly the government couldn’t govern its citizens without the checks and balances that are set in place to give minorities (small political groups) the rights to have a position in matters without being persecuted. With the rights of everyone being protected, the United States political system is highly favored by the people. And with a strong advocacy for our system of government, the people find favor in being governed by a system of popular sovereignty.

In conclusion the state and federal government control each other, while they control themselves. As Madison stated,

“In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” (Federal papers 51.)

Insperation For the Constitution

 

The U.S. Constitution is a document that protected the rights and liberties of the American People. Through it, lawmakers and judges use it as a standard for which they base laws off of. The Constitution was created by the founding fathers that were influenced to write this document after suffering from the unlawful rule of the British Empire. After seeing the magna carta [a document that protected the civil liberties of the Englishman] being violated by the British, they realized that they needed a better standard of law that would have the power in place for no one to violate it. That is why the founding fathers ensured that the Constitution would have checks and balances so no power could over throw the other. Through the checks and balances system the constitution cannot be destroyed and the power of America’s government can rely on the American people like the preamble stated.

                Almost everything in the Constitution was inspired so the government would have checks and balances to make sure no tyrant could consume all the governmental power. The founding fathers wanted to do everything in their power to stop the ruling of another king. Through looking at different systems of government from the Anglo Saxons to the Israelites they incorporated a system of democracy that built a balance of power. It is this democratic power that influenced the making of the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey plan. The compromise of both of these plans brought to the table a new plan that called the Great Compromise that was based in the Constitution.

The Great Compromised gave powers to the three branches of government but to make sure the government didn’t infringe on the rights of its citizens, the founding fathers created the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights limited the government from doing things unlawful like taking possession of property or being punished without trial by jury. Indeed the constitution protected peoples’ rights including the freedom of religion. And for this reason the Constitution could have never been brought about without the help of the God.

                Furthermore, God played his hand in the construction of the Constitution with the intention of bringing Liberty. In D&C 134:2 it reads, “We believe that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life.” In this verse God endorses the same motives of the founding fathers such as life, liberty and property. But God didn’t just endorse the founding fathers motives but raised and guided the founding fathers to establish the Constitution. In D&C 101:80 it says, “And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.” So to God it was through him that our freedom and the constitution came about. And to summarize the Constitution in God’s perspective D&C 101:77 states, “According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles.”

                The Constitution as a whole encompasses the essence liberty. It was liberty that inspired the founding fathers to establish this document. With the help of God and Wise Men [the founding fathers] the inspiration to break away from the British was laid out to ensure that the gospel could be established. With the rights of the people prevalent in such a document, the rest of the world mirrored the work with their own Constitutions that gave everyone the freedom of religion. And for this grand purpose was the Constitution inspired by God.