American Minute with Bill Federer
Bill of Rights: "restrictive clauses" to stop Federal Government's "abuse of its powers"
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When George Washington became General of the Continental Army,
George Mason
took his place as the
delegate from Virginia
to the
Continental Congress.
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George Mason
was chosen as a delegate to the
Constitutional Convention
where he
helped write the U.S. Constitution.
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Though George Washington
was presiding over the Constitutional Convention,
George Mason
refused to sign the U.S. Constitution.
Why?
Because it did not put enough
limits
on the Federal Government.
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Mason,
along with
Anti-Federalists Patrick Henry
and
Sam Adams,
feared that the new
Federal Government
might become
too powerful
and
take away their liberties,
as King George had recently done.
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George Mason
insisted that "restrictive clauses" should be added to prevent an abuse of Federal power.
This earned him the title
"Father of the Bill of Rights."
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At the time,
Mercy Otis Warren
wrote in
Observations on the new Constitution, and on the Federal and State Conventions,
1788:
"The origin of all power is in
the people,
and they
have an incontestable right to check the creatures of their own creation."
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The PREAMBLE of the Bill of Rights stated:
"The Conventions of a number of
the States,
having at the time of their
adopting the Constitution,
expressed a desire, in order
to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers,
that further declaratory and
restrictive clauses should be added ...
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... RESOLVED ... that the following Articles be proposed ... as
Amendments to the Constitution."
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Elbridge Gerry,
who signed the Declaration of Independence and helped write the U.S. Constitution,
addressed the first session of Congress
as it composed the
Bill of Rights,
August 17, 1789:
"This declaration of rights ... is intended to
secure the people against
the
mal-administration of the Government."
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Twelve Amendments
were
approved by Congress
on on September 25, 1789, and signed by
two individuals:
Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg
as the
First Speaker of the House,
who was
a Lutheran pastor
before being elected to Congress;
and
John Adams
as the
President of the Senate,
who was also Vice-President under George Washington.
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After passing the
Bill of Rights,
Congress requested
President Washington
issue a
National Day of Thanksgiving,
October 3, 1789, stating:
"I do recommend ... the 26th day of November ...
to be devoted by the People of these United States to the service of that
great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be ...
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... for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to
establish constitutions of government ...
particularly the national one now lately instituted,
for the
civil and religious liberty
with which we are blessed ...
to promote
the knowledge and
practice of true religion and virtue."
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The
12 Amendments
were sent to the States for their consideration.
After much heated debate in the various
State Ratifying Conventions, TEN AMENDMENTS were chosen to limit or handcuff the Federal Government.
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These
Ten Amendments
are called
the BILL OF RIGHTS,
ratified by the States on DECEMBER 15, 1791.
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The
FIRST AMENDMENT
to
restrict
the Federal Government began:
"CONGRESS shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press;
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
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Insight into the intention of the First Amendment is given by
George Mason,
the "Father of the Bill of Rights," who had
suggested the wording of the First Amendment be:
"All men have an equal, natural and unalienable right to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that
no particular sect or society of Christians ought to be favored or established by law in preference to others."
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Additional insight is seen in the debates of the various
State Ratifying Conventions.
At
North Carolina's Ratifying Convention,
July 30, 1788,
Governor Samuel Johnston
argued:
"The people of
Massachusetts
and
Connecticut
are mostly
Presbyterians ...
In
Rhode Island,
the tenets of the
Baptists,
I believe, prevail.
In
New York,
they are divided very much; the most numerous are the
Episcopalians
and the
Baptists.
In
New Jersey,
they are as much divided as we are.
In
Pennsylvania,
if any sect prevails more than others, it is that of the
Quakers.
In
Maryland,
the
Episcopalians
are most numerous, though there are other sects.
In
Virginia,
there are
many sects ...
I hope, therefore, that gentlemen will see there is
no cause of fear that any one religion shall be exclusively established."
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Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story,
who was appointed by President James Madison, explained in his
Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States,
1833:
"In some of the States,
Episcopalians
constituted the predominant sect; in other,
Presbyterians;
in others,
Congregationalists;
in others,
Quakers ...
The
whole power over the subject of religion
is left exclusively
to the State governments,
to be acted upon according to their own sense of justice and
the State Constitutions."
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Amendments to the "Federal" Constitution,
particularly regarding religion,
did not override individual "State" Constitutions.
This is seen by the
acknowledgments of religion in the State Constitutions
at the time
the States debated and
ratified the Bill of Rights.
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The
first State
to
ratify
the
Bill of Rights
was
NEW JERSEY
on November 20, 1789.
At that time,
New Jersey
was operating under its
1776 Constitution,
which stated:
"All persons, professing a belief in the faith of
any PROTESTANT sect,
who shall demean themselves peaceably under the government ... shall be capable of being elected."
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MARYLAND
was the
2nd State
to
ratify
the
Bill of Rights,
December 19, 1789.
At that time,
Maryland
was operating under its
1776 Constitution,
which stated:
"No other test ... ought to be required, on admission to any office ... than such oath of support and fidelity to this State ... and
a declaration of a belief in the CHRISTIAN religion."
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NORTH CAROLINA
was the
3rd State
to
ratify
the
Bill of Rights,
December 22, 1789.
At that time,
North Carolina
was operating under its
1776 Constitution,
which stated:
"No person, who shall deny the being of
GOD
or the truth of the
PROTESTANT religion,
or the
Divine authority
either of the
Old or New Testaments,
or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding ... office."
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SOUTH CAROLINA
was the
4th State
to
ratify
the
Bill of Rights,
January 19, 1790.
At that time,
South Carolina
was operating under its
1778 Constitution,
which stated:
"No person shall be eligible to a seat ... unless he be of the
PROTESTANT religion
... The
CHRISTIAN PROTESTANT religion
shall be deemed ... the
established religion of this State."
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NEW HAMPSHIRE
was the
5th State
to
ratify
the
Bill of Rights,
January 25, 1790.
At that time,
New Hampshire
was operating under its
1784 Constitution,
which stated:
"No person shall be capable of being elected ... who is not of the
PROTESTANT religion."
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DELAWARE
was the
6th State
to
ratify
the
Bill of Rights,
January 28, 1790.
At that time,
Delaware
was operating under its
1776 Constitution,
which stated:
"Every person ... appointed to any office ... shall ... subscribe ... 'I ... profess faith in
GOD THE FATHER,
and in J
ESUS CHRIST His only Son,
and in the
HOLY GHOST,
one
God,
blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the
Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament
to be given by
Divine inspiration.'"
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NEW YORK
was the
7th State
to ratify the
Bill of Rights,
February 24, 1790.
At that time,
New York
was operating under its
1777 Constitution,
which stated:
"The United American States ... declare ... 'Laws of nature and of
NATURE'S GOD
... All men are created equal; that they are endowed by their
CREATOR
with certain unalienable rights ... Appealing to the
SUPREME JUDGE of the world ...
A firm reliance on the protection of
DIVINE PROVIDENCE' ...
People of this State, ordain ... the free exercise and enjoyment of
religious profession and worship, without discrimination ...
Provided, That the
liberty of conscience,
hereby granted, shall
not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness (sexual immorality)."
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PENNSYLVANIA
was the
8th State
to
ratify
the
Bill of Rights,
March 10, 1790.
At that time,
Pennsylvania
was operating under its
1776 Constitution,
signed by Ben Franklin, which stated:
"Each member, before he takes his seat, shall ... subscribe ... 'I do believe in one
GOD,
the
Creator
and
Governor of the Universe,
the
Rewarder of the good
and the
Punisher of the wicked.
And I do acknowledge the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testament
to be given by
Divine Inspiration.'"
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RHODE ISLAND
was the
9th State
to
ratify
the
Bill of Rights,
June 7, 1790.
At that time,
Rhode Island
was operating under its
1663 Colonial Constitution,
which stated:
"By the blessing of
God
... a full liberty in religious concernements ... rightly grounded upon
GOSPEL principles,
will give the best and greatest security ... in the
true CHRISTIAN faith and worship of God
... They may ...
defend
themselves, in
their just rights and liberties
against all the enemies of the CHRISTIAN faith."
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VERMONT
was admitted as the 14th State to the Union on March 4, 1791.
Later that year, on November 3, 1791,
Vermont
became the
10th State
to
ratify
the
Bill of Rights.
At that time,
Vermont
was operating under its
1777 Constitution,
which stated:
"And each member, before he takes his seat, shall make and subscribe the following declaration, viz. 'I ____ do believe in one
God,
the
Creator
and
Governor of the Universe,
the
Rewarder of the good
and
Punisher of the wicked.
And I do acknowledge the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testament
to be given by
Divine inspiration,
and own and profess the
Protestant religion.'
And no further or other religious test shall ever, hereafter, be required."
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VIRGINIA
was the
11th State
to
ratify
the
Bill of Rights, December 15, 1791.
At that time,
Virginia
was operating under its
1776 Constitution,
which stated:
"It is the mutual duty of all to practice
CHRISTIAN forbearance, love, and charity
towards each other."
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Virginia's ratification
completed the necessary
three-fourths
of the States, thereby putting the
Bill of Rights into effect.
Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson
certified the adoption of the
Bill of Rights
on March 1, 1792.
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Other States
ratified the Bill of Rights
at
later dates.
KENTUCKY
separated from Virginia and became the 15th State in the Union on June 1, 1792.
Later that same year, June 27, 1792,
Kentucky ratified
the
Bill of Rights.
At that time,
Kentucky
was operating under its
1792 Constitution,
which stated:
"Article 8, Section 5: The manner of administering an oath or affirmation shall be such as is consistent with the
conscience
of the deponent, and shall be esteemed by the legislature
the most solemn appeal to God."
"Article 11, Section 3: That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to
worship Almighty God
according to the
dictates of their own consciences
... No human authority can, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the
rights of conscience
...
Section 4: That the
civil rights ... of any citizen
shall
in no wise be diminished
... on account of
his religion."
Section 7: That ... the
free communication of thoughts and opinions
is
one of the invaluable rights of man,
and
every citizen may freely speak, write, and print on any subject."
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MASSACHUSETTS
did not
ratify
the
Bill of Rights
until March 2, 1939.
At the time the
Bill of Rights
were adopted by the United States,
Massachusetts
was still operating under its
1780 Constitution,
written by John Adams, which stated in Part the First, Article 3:
"Towns ... to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the
public worship of God,
and for the support and maintenance of
public Protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality,
in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntarily ...
Every denomination of Christians,
demeaning themselves peaceably, and as good subjects of the commonwealth,
shall be equally under the protection of the law:
and no subordination of any one sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law."
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GEORGIA
did not
ratify
the
Bill of Rights
until March 18, 1939.
At the time the
Bill of Rights
were adopted by the United States,
Georgia
was still operating under its
1789 Constitution,
which stated:
"Article 4, Section 5. All persons shall have the
free exercise of religion."
Georgia's 1798 Constitution
stated:
"Article 4, Section 4. No person ... shall ... be deprived of the inestimable privilege of
worshiping God
in a manner agreeable to
his own conscience
...
nor shall any person be denied the enjoyment of any civil right merely on account of his religious principles.
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CONNECTICUT
did not
ratify
the
Bill of Rights
until April 19, 1939.
At the time the
Bill of Rights
were adopted by the United States,
Connecticut,
called
"The Constitution State,"
was still operating under its 1662 Charter from King Charles II and its
1639 Fundamental Orders,
derived from
Pastor Thomas Hooker's sermon of 1638,
which stated:
"Oath of the Governor ... swear by the great and dreadful name of the
Ever-living God,
to promote the public good and ... all wholesome laws ... according to the
rule of God's word;
so help me
God,
in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ."
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It is clear from all contemporary documentation, that the Bill of Rights
was
not intended
for the
Federal Government
to
outlaw State acknowledgements of Christianity, God or religion.
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Writing in regards to the Amendments limiting the Federal Government,
Thomas Jefferson
wrote to Samuel Miller, January 23, 1808:
"I consider the
Government
of the U.S. as
interdicted (prohibited)
by the Constitution
from inter-meddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises.
This results not only from the provision that
no law shall be made respecting the establishment or free exercise of religion,
but from that also which
reserves to the States the powers not delegated to the U.S (9th & 10th Amendments) ..."
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Jefferson
continued:
"Certainly
no power
to prescribe any religious exercise, or
to assume authority in religious discipline,
has been delegated to the
General (Federal) government.
It must then rest with the States
as far as it can be in any human authority ...
I do not believe it is for the interest of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct its exercises, its discipline, or its doctrines ...
Every religious society
has a right to
determine for itself
the times for these exercises, and the objects proper for them,
according to their own particular tenets."
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The Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress prepared
The Constitution of the United States of America-Analysis and Interpretation
(Edward S. Corwin, editor, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1953, p. 758), which stated:
"In his
Commentaries on the Constitution,
1833,
Justice Joseph Story
asserted that the
purpose of the First Amendment
was
not to discredit the then existing State establishments of religion,
but rather 'to
exclude
from
the National Government
all power
to act on the subject.'"
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Justice Joseph Story
wrote in
A Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the United States,
1840:
"We are not to attribute this prohibition of a national religious establishment to an
indifference to religion
in general, and
especially to Christianity (which none could hold in more reverence than the framers of the Constitution) ...
Probably, at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, and of the Amendment to it now under consideration, the general, if not the
universal, sentiment in America
was, that
Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the State
so far as was not incompatible with the private
rights of conscience
and the
freedom of religious worship.
An attempt to
level all religions,
and to make it a matter of
state policy to hold all in utter indifference,
would have created
universal disapprobation,
if not
universal indignation ..."
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Story
continued:
"But the duty of supporting religion, and especially the
Christian religion,
is very different from the right to force the consciences of other men or to punish them for
worshiping God in the manner which they believe their accountability to Him
requires ...
The
rights of conscience
are, indeed, beyond the just reach of any human power.
They are given by God,
and
cannot be encroached upon by human authority
without a criminal disobedience of the precepts of natural as well as of
revealed religion.
The
real object
of the
First Amendment
was not to countenance, much less to advance
Mohammedism, or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity,
but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects
and to prevent any national ecclesiastical establishment which should give to a hierarchy the exclusive patronage of the national government."
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Jefferson
stated in his Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1805:
"In matters of
religion
I have considered that its
free exercise
is placed by the Constitution
independent
of the powers
of the General (Federal) Government.
I have therefore undertaken, on no occasion, to prescribe the religious exercise suited to it; but
have left them,
as the Constitution found them,
under the direction and discipline of State and church authorities by the several religious societies."
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Things began to change with the
14th Amendment.
In 1889,
John Bouvier's Law Dictionary
(Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott Co.) gave the definition of "RELIGION" and then hinted of the novel use of the 14TH AMENDMENT:
"'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof' ...
By establishment of religion is meant the setting up of state church, or at least conferring upon one church of special favors which are denied to others ...
The Christian religion is, of course, recognized by the government,
yet ... the
preservation of religious liberty is left to the States
...
This provision
and that relating to
religious tests
are
limitations upon the power of the (Federal) Congress only ...
Perhaps the
Fourteenth Amendment
may give additional securities if needful."
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The
14th Amendment
was passed July 28, 1866, to
force
Southern Democrat States
to
give rights to freed slaves.
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Republican Congressman
John Farnsworth
of Illinois stated of the 14th Amendment, March 31, 1871:
"The reason for the adoption (of the
14TH AMENDMENT)
... was because of ...
discriminating ...
legislation of those States ... by which they were punishing
one class
of men under different laws from
another class."
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But in solving one problem it created another.
The 14th Amendment
was sponsored by Republican Congressman
John Bingham
of Ohio.
When asked if he feared the
14th Amendment
might open the door for the Federal Government to usurp rights away from the States,
Rep. John Bingham
replied:
"I repel the suggestion ... that the Amendment will ... take away from any State any right that belongs to it."
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Nevertheless, shortly after the 14th Amendment was ratified, activist Federal Judges began to do just that.
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Darwinist philosopher
Herbert Spencer
influenced Harvard Law School dean
Christopher Columbus Langdell
to apply evolution to the legal process.
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Rather than upholding the intent of those who wrote the laws,
Langdell
introduced the idea that
laws could evolve
through a series of
"case precedents."
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This effectively added a second way to change laws.
The FIRST way to change laws requires motivating a
majority of citizens
to elect Congressmen and Senators, who in turn, need a
majority to pass a law,
which in turn needs to be signed by the President, who was elected by a
majority.
The SECOND way to change laws is much easier. Simply find an
evolutionary, activist judge
who is willing to subtly
evolve the definitions of words
that are in existing laws to push the will of a
minority.
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This evolutionary view influenced
Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.,
to challenge the tradition that the Constitution should only be changed when two-thirds of the State legislatures, or two-thirds of both the Senate and House, propose an Amendment, and three-fourths of the States ratify it.
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Holmes'
biographer wrote in
The Justice from Beacon Hill
(1991), that he:
"... shook the little world of lawyers and judges who had been raised on Blackstone's theory that the law, given by God Himself, was immutable and eternal and judges had only to discover its contents.
It took some years for them to come around to the view that the
law was flexible,
responsive to changing social and economic climates ...
Holmes had ... broken
new intellectual trails ...
demonstrating that the corpus of
the law was
neither ukase (an edict) from God nor derived from Nature, but ... was
a constantly evolving thing."
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Federal Courts proceeded to use the
14th Amendment,
along with an expanded reading of the
"general welfare clause"
and the
"commerce clause,"
to
evolve
the role of the
BILL OF RIGHTS,
particularly the
first eight Amendments,
from
limiting the Federal Government
to instead
limiting the State Governments.
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James Madison
wrote to James Robertson, April 20, 1831:
"With respect to the words
'general welfare,'
I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them.
To take them in an ...
unlimited sense
would be a
metamorphosis of the Constitution
into a character which there is a host of proofs was
not contemplated by its creators."
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In a figurative sense,
activist judges
took the
handcuffs off
the wrists of the
Federal Government
and
placed them on the States.
Judges removed from States' jurisdiction responsibility over
trade disputes, union strikes,
and even
what farmers could grow
on their farms.
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Federal Court cases included:
- Freedom of speech and press, Gitlow v. New York, 1925 (re: Socialists) and Fiske v. Kansas, 1927 (re: Unions);
- Freedom of press, Near v. Minnesota, 1931 (re: anti-Catholics);
- Freedom of assembly, DeJonge v. Oregon, 1937 (re: Communists).
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Federal Judges removed from States' jurisdiction responsibility for freedom of religion in cases
regarding Jehovah's Witnesses:
- Cantwell v. Connecticut, 1940;
- Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 1940;
- Jones v. Opelika, 1942;
- Taylor v. Mississippi, 1943;
- Martin v. Struthers, 1943;
- United States v. Ballard, 1944;
- Saia v. New York, 1948;
- Niemotoko v. Maryland, 1951.
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Cases of
anti-Catholic discrimination
were appealed to the Supreme Court:
- Pierce v. Society of Sisters of Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, 1925;
- Everson v. Board of Education, 1947.
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Federal Courts created a case by case
"crucible of litigation"
method
(Wallace v. Jaffree,
1985)
by which the First Amendment took on an increasingly anti-religious interpretation.
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Ronald Reagan
addressed the Alabama State Legislature, March 15, 1982:
"The First Amendment of the Constitution was not written to protect the people of this country from religious values; it was written to protect religious values from government tyranny."
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Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Cooley
wrote in
The General Principles of Constitutional Law
(2nd Ed., 1891, p. 282):
"The Second Amendment
... was meant to be a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers ... The people ... shall have the right to keep and bear arms, and they need no permission or regulation of law for the purpose."
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Thomas Jefferson
warned Charles Hammond, 1821, how Federal judges would be tempted to usurp power:
"The germ of dissolution of our ... government is in ... the Federal judiciary ... working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow ... until all shall be usurped from the States."
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The Bill of Rights is now experiencing a new challenge, as exhibited by signs carried by
fundamentalist Muslim demonstrators,
such as one in Dearborn, Michigan, as reported Dr. Irwin Lutzer in T
he Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent
(2013):
"We will use the freedoms of the Constitution to destroy the Constitution."
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This view is exemplified by Sharia organizer
Anjem Choudary
of
Islam4UK
declared
(London Daily Express,
Oct. 15, 2009):
"We have had enough of democracy
and man-made law ... We will call for a complete upheaval of the British ruling system ... and
demand full implementation of Sharia
in Britain."
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Dwight Eisenhower
warned of this
(TIME Magazine,
October 13, 1952):
"The Bill of Rights
contains no grant of privilege for a group of people
to destroy the Bill of Rights.
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A group ...
dedicated to the ultimate destruction of all civil liberties, cannot be allowed to claim civil liberties
as its privileged sanctuary from which to carry on
subversion of the Government."
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Lawmakers are increasingly faced with the dilemma -- should freedom of speech be for groups whose ultimate goal is to censor and eliminate freedom of speech?
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Should freedom of religion be extended to those with an agenda and track record of abolishing freedom of religion?
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Should "sharia-practicing" Muslims and enforcers of previously unheard of sexual agendas be allowed to
demand freedoms for themselves
-- while
bullying others to surrender their freedoms?
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Employing the tactic of "psychological projection,"
intolerant groups accuse their opponents of what they are guilty of.
Hateful organizations even post on their websites the lists of
those they hate.
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Is Western Civilization committing "assisted suicide" -- with activist "politically-correct" judges and elitist, deep-state bureaucrats usurping power from the people?
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Eisenhower
addressed the Governors' Conference, June 24, 1957:
"The
National Government
was itself the
creature of the States ...
Yet today it is often made to appear that
the creature, Frankenstein-like,
is determined to
destroy the creators."
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American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission is granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate, with acknowledgment.
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Schedule Bill Federer for informative interviews & captivating PowerPoint presentations: 314-502-8924
wjfederer@gmail.com
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