B-side: A Peak at the Past
There were a number of occasions where I started rolling out my own blog software and wrote one or two entries to fill space and left them at that. Some of them I actually liked so, as I putter along with this thing I’ll publish a few so I don’t ultimately lose the text. Any post designated “B-side” is an old post from another time and another place. This one, A Peak at the Past was originally written on October 3rd of 2007. I was experimenting with Drupal at the time. Anyway, here’s the entry:
Aside from working on the server and playing around with this site, I did quite a bit of reading over the weekend and even some today and the day before. There are a few things I’d like to write about concerning American history and some political concepts but before I got to that I felt like I had to do some more research. Voting and juries were the two main issues. While I won’t be getting deep into those right now, there are some things of interest I wanted to jot down.
Voting in Early America is a nice article with a few very choice quotes covering the basic history of voting in, you guessed it, early America. It’s not terribly long and I suggest that everyone take the time to read it. Benjamin Franklin’s remarks alone are worth the price of admission. If you haven’t studied very much in the way of American History, you’ll probably find this article even more interesting than I did.
My other reading included the 1776 Constitution of Virginia. I did take a look at some of the other constitutions and charters of the original 13 colonies and while there is a lot of interesting stuff all around there—the diversity in what the various states held as liberty being one of the most noteworthy tidbits—I found the Constitution of Virginia the most fascinating. This is something else I’ll comment on in depth later, but there are a few choice quotes I’d like to point out. All emphasis added is my own.
SECTION 1. 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.
While I find the language of the Declaration of Independence prettier and more poetic than the above, from a technical and semantical point of view, Virginia’s Constitution is superior. I remember hearing from both my high school US History and US Government classes about Thomas Jefferson being influenced by John Locke (who, I must say, is a rather creepy looking fellow) and that when he wrote the Declaration of Independence the phrase “pursuit of Happiness” was just a nice way of saying “property.”
Clearly, the “pursuit of Happiness” was not just a nice way of referencing “property” but rather it was intentionally used instead as a more expansive term. The Virginia Constitution, which Jefferson was a major figure in drafting, demonstrates this clearly. I point this out because a lot of old school conservatives really believe that property and happiness are one in the same, which is just plain false. The mere protection of property, of stuff, is an important part of government, but it’s certainly not the be all end all and the acquisition of wealth and property is neither the basis for government nor the basis for our existence as free men. The right to work and the ability to pursue a business or a trade and to use it for the benefit of society is much more important than the material rewards of the work.
SEC. 15. That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.
Frugality, while I would argue is not the most important ideal in this bunch, is the one that really caught my attention. Specifically for the reasons I mentioned above. The “American Dream” is often characterized as the ability for one to become wealthy. In fact, if one watches late night TV there is no shortage of promises of becoming wealthy with minimal effort. Instead of looking to liberty, knowledge and charity as the most precious objects, we look to wealth and material possession. This sort of capitalistic gluttony is often attributed to the foundations of this country, and wrongly so. Jefferson argues in this constitution that “no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved” without “frugality.” Interesting.
Ben Franklin even listed frugality as one of his 13 Virtues: Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
When we think about liberty, I find that we don’t consider financial responsibility a very important aspect. That much is clear when looking at the huge mountains of debt this people of this country continue to bury themselves in all while calling themselves free.
SEC. 16. That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other.
Many so-called intellectuals and academics today think that religion and reason are somehow incompatible but you might find yourself surprised as to how often it comes up in the context of religion in the era of the revolution. Most of the the men we would consider “the founders” were religious, some more so than others of course, but religious nonetheless. However, unlike the picture that Christian neo-conservatives and Christian fundamentalists, like a large wing of the Constitution Party (check out their platform sometime and you’ll get what I mean if you don’t already know), these men were not some frothy-mouthed literalist Bible thumpers. Not by a long shot. They valued reason over blind faith and dogma.
(And as a side note, any time you see some jackass vilify the likes of Thomas Jefferson or Ben Franklin because of their unorthodox takes on Christianity and religion in general, lash out at them or something. Just because one is not orthodox or does not practice with a specific sect or dogma does not make that person “less religious.”)
My look into the constitutions of the states also lead me to look into Bouvier’s Law Dictionary to help me out with some of the words being used. While perusing it for some terms, I came across other things. On the subject of reason, here is a definition worth looking at:
LAW OF NATURE. The law of nature is that which God, the sovereign of the universe, has prescribed to all men, not by any formal promulgation, but by the internal dictate of reason alone. It is discovered by a just consideration of the agreeableness or disagreeableness of human actions to the nature of man; and it comprehends all the duties which we owe either to the Supreme Being, to ourselves, or to our neighbors; as reverence to God, self-defence, temperance, honor to our parents, benevolence to all, a strict adherence to our engagements, gratitude, and the like.
Remember what I said about these guys not being some kind of fundamentalist wackos? While religious and while dedicating true sovereignty to God and God alone, this does not have the stink of Biblical literalism to it.
Finally, while looking through the dictionary I came across a large section on the Maxims of Law. I’ve always loved many of the maxims and there is a lot to learn about the most basic and fundamental principles of law by reading them, even if many are redundant and a few of them leave me with a sort of stupefied look on my face. There are two I would like to share before signing off and catching some sleep:
Error fucatus nuda veritate in multis est probabilior; et saepenumero rationibus vincit veritatem error. Error artfully colored is in many things more probable than naked truth; and frequently error conquers truth and reasoning.
And finally, the one that really sums up my most basic philosophy for the universe and my own faith:
Fiat justitia ruat coelum. Let justice be done, though the heavens should fall.
A lot of this research and reading was made possible because of Yale University’s most excellent Avalon Project. If you’re a nerd, like me, then this place can be a real time sink.