Federalist No. 51

           The dilemma that James Madison poses in his paper is the paradox that “Men are governing Men.” This idea raises the question: where does the true power lie? That is the difficultly of it all. If men are governing men who gets the power to govern? The Preamble to the Constitution begins with “We the people…” The primary control then seems to be a dependence on the people. The people are responsible for their government. The people hold the true power. They then relinquished some of that power to the government so that they could enforce the laws. This made man subject to their government. “You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” (Federalist No. 51)

            James Madison believed that the Constitution solved this difficulty through auxiliary precautions. “Experience has taught mankind the necessity of Auxiliary Precautions” (The Federalist No. 51) Auxiliary Precautions included many ideas, one of them being checks and balances. Checks and Balances were a way to make sure that not one part of the government had too much power over the other. One example is the Division of Powers between State and National governments. The Legislative Branch is another example because it was separated into two different sections; the House of Representatives and the Senate. Another precaution was the Separation of Power into the three branches; Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. “It is evident that each department should have a will of its own and consequently should be so constituted that the members of each should have as little agency as possible in the appointment of the members of the others.” (Federalist No. 51) Separating into three branches allowed them to check on each other to make sure that one branch was not superior to the other and that they all performed their specific responsibilities.

            Another point is that we have a written Constitution. This written Constitution limits the power of the government because it gives them a list of things they can do.” People also participated and continued to be the ultimate sovereigns of their government.” (The Federalist No. 51) This again shows how the primary control is dependence on the people. As long as the people are the ultimate sovereigns the government can govern the people and keep control of itself with little contention. “The different governments will control each other; at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” (The Federalist No. 51) The founding fathers put these auxiliary precautions into the Constitution to make sure that everything stayed fair and that the power did not fall into one place. They made sure to divide the power and to create checks and balances within the government so that justice and liberty existed. “Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.” (The Federalist No. 51)

            

U.S. Constitution

·         What about the U.S. Constitution was inspired?

·         How is it that the U.S. Constitution was inspired?

(I combined my answers together explaining the “what” and “how” the U.S. Constitution was inspired. For example I tell you what was inspired and then explain how it was inspired.)

            There are many ideas in the constitution that were inspired. Separation of Powers was one inspired idea of the Constitution. This means that each branch is independent and balanced. The idea of the separation of powers was inspired because the founding fathers decided to hold conventions. These conventions were a way to deliberate among the men how they should come to govern the people of the United States. Conventions were also a way to council with everyone. Holding councils are a great way to receive revelation from God. In the convention they counseled and received revelation which guided them to just the right combination to ensure the integrity of each individual branch. The founding fathers were guided in their thoughts to hold conventions so that they could council one with another to bring about this resolution. Dallin H. Oaks quoted President Clark in his talk “The Divinely Inspired Constitution” saying: “It is this union of independence and dependence of these branches- legislative, executive, and judicial- and of the governmental functions possessed by each of them that constitutes the marvelous genius of this unrivalled document…” The separation of powers makes certain that no one part of the government holds too much power over the other.

            A written Bill of Rights is another inspired idea of the Constitution. The inspiration for the Bill of Rights came from pre-existing principles. These pre-existing principles such as the Magna Carta and the English Bill of rights helped set the stage for the United States Bill of Rights. These previous principles had the idea that man had certain rights given to them by their creator and the government was to protect those rights. Dallin H. Oaks says in his talk “The Divinely Inspired Constitution:” “The Declaration of Independence had posited these truths to be “self-evident,” that all men “are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights,” and that governments are instituted “to secure these rights.” This inspired Constitution was established to provide a practical guarantee of these God-given rights.” The founding fathers knew that they needed to secure the rights of man that were given to them by God. They were inspired to create a Bill of Rights to secure man’s inalienable rights.

            Another inspired part of the Constitution was the design of Popular Sovereignty. This means that the people are the source of the governmental power. The power of sovereignty lied with the people. Religious people affirm that God gave them their rights, and that he gave the power to the people. They were then able to decide how much power to give to their government. Along with that it implies popular responsibility. Everyone is responsible for their own actions. The colonies were no longer governed by a king so they could not blame him or parliament for their struggles with their government. The people were now responsible for electing their leaders. In turn they share the responsibility of their leaders’ choices and actions because they had the opportunity and responsibility to elect their leaders.

            The Constitution also inspired the idea of the Rule of Law. This means that leaders and rulers were not above man. The people realized that God gives man his rights. God is the supreme ruler over the people. If a nation is to be ruled in peace, then the leaders must subject themselves to God and act under his direction. The governed people must in turn sustain and uphold their leaders whom they chose to lead and guide them. The idea that God is the supreme ruler was the original idea of the founding fathers. They based their ideas of liberty off of this principle in hopes that America would be ruled by both justice and mercy. The Rule of Law was inspired because the colonists knew that no ruler was to be put above any other person. They knew that God had his hand in establishing the Constitution of the United States.

            The Constitution had many inspired ideas and the way it was inspired is truly incredible. The founding fathers worked hard to ponder and commune with God to create a document worthy to govern the United States. It was inspired by God. The founding fathers held conventions to council with others and they received revelation. Pre-existing principles were also a part of creating the constitution. There is no doubt that the Constitution was created by worthy men who were inspired by the hand of God.