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Author! Author! See other Author! Author! Articles Title: The Constitution of the United States Basic Principles, pages 212-214 The third principle was the guaranty of individual liberty through constitutional limitations. This marked another great contribution of America to the science of government. In all previous government building, the State was regarded as a sovereign, which could grant to individuals or classes out of its plenary power certain privileges or exemptions, which were called "liberties." Thus the liberties which the barons wrung from King John at Runnymede were virtually exemptions from the power of government. The Fathers did not believe in the sovereignty of the State in the sense of absolute power, nor did they believe in the sovereignty of the people in that sense. The word "sovereignty" will not be found in the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence. They believed that each individual, as a responsible moral being, had certain "inalienable rights" which neither the State nor the people could rightfully take from him. This conception of individualism, enforced in courts of law against executives and legislatures, was wholly new and is the distinguishing characteristic of American constitutionalism. As to such reserved rights, guaranteed by Constitutional limitations, and largely by the first ten Amendments to the Constitution, a man, by virtue of his inherent and God-given dignity as a human soul, has rights, such as freedom of the Press, liberty of speech, property rights, and religious freedom, which even on hundred millions of people cannot rightfully take from him, without amending the Constitution. The Framers did not believe that the oil of anointing that was supposed to sanctify the monarch and give him infallibility hd fallen upon the "multitudinous tongue" of the people to give it either infallibility or omnipotence. They believed in individualism. They were animated by a sleepless jealousy of governmental power. They believed that the greater such power, the greater the danger of its abuse. They felt that the individual could generaly best work out his own salvation, and that his constant prayer to government was that of Diogenes to Alexander: "Keep out of my sunlight." The worth and dignity of the human soul, the free competition of man and man, the nobility of labor, the right to work, free from the tyranny of state or class, this was their gospel. Socialism was to them abhorrent. This theory of government gave a new dignity to manhood. It said to the State: "There is a limit to your power. Thus far and no farther, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed."
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#2. To: X-15 (#0)
Thanks for reminding us of our next duty.
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