Learning from History
Shortly after the delegates in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 had put their signatures to their work, Benjamin Franklin, the oldest delegate, was asked, “Well Dr. Franklin, what have you given us?” His answer is curious and full of meaning: “A republic, if you can keep it.” Benjamin Franklin was not a careless speaker. Nor was he flippant or trite. There was usually much meaning behind his well considered words. His answer portrayed hope, but also a warning...
History is full of important lessons that we would do well to learn. I don’t mean the facts and dates that we learned in school. I am referring to moral lessons – lessons of cause and effect. These are the harder lessons to learn. They often reveal something about our own shortcomings. But if we fail to learn the lessons of history we are doomed to repeat them. Dr. Franklin’s answer was obviously full of meaning. What was he trying to communicate?
I believe farther that this is likely to be well administred for a Course of Years, and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other.~ Benjamin Franklin, on the Constitution
It is fitting to celebrate the 250th anniversary of this great nation. It was quite phenomenal, even a miracle how it all happened. Those who gave their lives to establish this country 250 years ago deserve our deep appreciation and gratitude. But, do we understand the deep significance of what happened?
What are we celebrating? Do we think about what it took to ensure that we have the freedoms we have in this country? Do we understand what motivated the Founders to risk everything to make such freedom possible for us? And perhaps most important, do we know what it takes to keep it?
The Foundation of America
When we talk about the founding of this nation, we must include two major events that gave birth and structure to it. July 4th, 1776 was the day that the Declaration of Independence was brought before the American colonists. It proclaimed to the world that a new nation was beginning. It was essentially the birthday of the United States of America. For this country was born in the heart of the revolutionaries who signed that amazing document.
It was eleven years later, after four months of intense deliberation, that collection of men presented to the people of the various states, the proposed Constitution of the United States of America. This occurred in September of 1787. The approval of their work by the individual 13 states took another several months of often heated debate. The Founding Fathers understood that these were weighty matters.
The years between 1776 and 1787 were not idle ones. The 13 States each drafted their own constitutions, and fought and won a war against the greatest military power in the world, thus winning their status as independent states. Then they bound themselves together under the Articles of Confederation.
Many feared that the Articles of Confederation did not allow the national government enough authority to keep the states together. They felt that the nation would be weak compared to other nations and that such weakness would be taken advantage of. They wanted something stronger, with more authority, so the United States could take their stand among the great nations of the earth. But they realized that national, centralized authority could very easily grow over time to overshadow the rights of the citizens and become tyrannical.
History taught these men that the tendency of government is to gain more and more power at the expense of the liberty of the citizens. To guard against repeating this pattern, they knew they needed to establish a government that would be limited in its power over the people. It would require clear definition of its limited function. And it needed ways to be kept within those limitations.
In 1787, the men who were gathered together to propose a Constitution for the new nation regarded their efforts with great gravity and humility. They knew that their work would effect generations to come. To foster open debate they felt that their deliberations should be kept from the public till they had finally agreed upon a document to present to the nation. Over the months of the hot summer of 1787 they deliberated behind closed doors and windows, suffering the heat, the flies, and the lack of ventilation for the sake of their privacy to debate.
The Republic for Which it Stands
What they produced and submitted to the States to ratify was a work of divinely-inspired genius. That means it was established by God, who sent angels to move the hearts of men to carry his purposes forward.1 It was a Constitutional Republic — a government bound by limitations designed by the people it governed. The Founders understood something fundamental about governments through history. Governments do not do a good job of governing themselves. This proposed government would be formed as a servant of the people it governed. It would leave people the freedom to govern themselves. Such a structure would only work if the citizens remained faithful to a good moral foundation and didn’t abandon their responsibility to keep the republic in its designed place.
A republic consists of people who are self-sufficient. They don’t rely on the government for support. A Constitutional Republic is, therefore, the hardest government to overthrow. People in a republic understand the concepts of inalienable rights2 and of limited government. A republic is a government with definite boundaries upon it to ensure that it remains a servant of the people and not their master. George Washington refused to be king, but he did become a president – a servant-leader. Thomas Jefferson exhorted his country to “bind down the government from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” So it was up to the people to keep it, just as Dr. Franklin warned.
Did We Keep It?
Have the citizens heeded Dr. Franklin’s words? Have they kept the government in its designated place, limited to be the servant of the people rather than their master? Have we kept our representatives bound within their designed limitations? It appears not.
Over the course of several generations the people of the United States have transformed their government from a servant of the people to the nanny of the people. The people have become more and more dependent upon a stronger and stronger government. We have forgotten that a republic depends on a self-sufficient people who have moral character.
We have been taught to fear that life in this modern age has become too complex to manage without the help of a strong central government. This fear has opened the door to the same tyranny that the Founders hoped to close. Over many years we have casually relinquished to the government the role of taking care of us. We elect representatives who expanded the quiet revolution that changed the servant government into the provider government.
The Purpose of Freedom
Many of the Founders recognized that their plan was guided by divine providence.
“There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, …” Patrick Henry (1775)
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence (1776)
The Founders were experiencing a movement of God and they were not ashamed to acknowledge it. Our Father established the Constitution in order that we could live at peace, work with our hands, and mind our own business. Anything that rises against the Constitution is lawless, and not from our Father.
The Creator intervened in the affairs of men to establish a place in the fullness of time for people to have the freedom to search for him so that they may find Him (Acts 17:26-27). But, just as there is a God who is involved in the affairs of men, there is an enemy who works to tear down what God builds up. This work is subtly hidden under the guise of progress. It will be deceptive. It will be revealed only to those who are willing to do the will of God.
Take note of this prophecy concerning the end of the age, which we are now approaching:
“For the mystery of iniquity is already working, except that he who dominates now will dominate until he is taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked [one] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his mouth and remove with the clarity of his coming: [that wicked one], who shall come by the working of Satan with great power and signs and lying miracles, and with all deception of iniquity [working] in those that perish because they did not receive the charity of the truth, to be saved. Therefore, for this cause, God shall send the operation of error in them, that they should believe the lie; that they all might be condemned who did not believe the truth, but consented to the iniquity.” 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12
This illustrates the real struggle that is being fought at this time. Not a battle between nations, not a contest between political parties, but a battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil in the spiritual realm. Ideas are born in the minds of men that originate from this unseen realm – good or evil. Men will be divided according to which voice they are inclined to listen to.
The Founding Fathers listened to the voice that produced a nation that would give men the freedom to seek for God. Since its inception, this free nation has been under attack from the forces of evil. The decline has taken place in the souls of men. Our character has been eroded. As a result, we have made our government the very tyrant it was established to guard us against. We look to the government to do what only our Creator can do.
The only reasonable purpose for freedom is that men would use it to grope for God. Nations throughout history have been raised up or torn down on the basis of their support for or hindrance to this atmosphere of freedom. This is the great power struggle of the age and its battle ground is the hearts and souls of men. §
“I hold before you life and death. Choose life that you may live!” The Creator of Heaven and Earth
