Message This Constitution Day
From The JMC President
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Dear John,
This Constitution Day, I write to you feeling a bit saddened and frustrated by recent events. We have witnessed a summer of street violence that at the present moment shows no signs of abating.
I thought this would be an opportune moment to look to our nation’s history and our founding documents for guidance.
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Rule of Law Under Attack
Our nation had the first written constitution in the world that formally and explicitly established a free system of government and guaranteed individual liberty, the rule of law, and equality before the law.
The rule of law has recently come under attack from several directions. There is a perception amongst some that the police themselves do not behave in accord with the rule of law and instead act as if they are above the law, while many Black Americans do not feel they are protected by it.
In such situations, it is tempting for many to disregard the law entirely and to take to the street seeking what they see as justice. It is increasingly common to hear that the Constitution seems outmoded or even an obstacle to true justice.
This is particularly dangerous, because the Constitution is not a hindrance to justice but is, rather, its foundation.
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Lincoln's Lyceum Address
Abraham Lincoln returned to our founding principles when addressing the mob violence that had spread throughout the nation in his 1838 “Lyceum Address” in Springfield, Illinois. The immediate background for Lincoln’s speech was the murder in Illinois of an abolitionist publisher at the hands of a pro-slavery mob.
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Not only in the slave states, but across the nation, were abolitionists or suspected sympathizers (not to mention Black men or women) at risk of summary execution. Lincoln grimly noted that “dead men were seen literally dangling from the boughs of trees upon every road side; and in numbers almost sufficient, to rival the native Spanish moss of the country, as a drapery of the forest.”
What About Today's Unrest?
Our situation today is different, to be sure. The protestors today are rightfully demanding equality for all, which is a promise in our Declaration. However, the violent rioters threaten the rule of law.
Lincoln warned that widespread disregard for the legal order and the rule of law has a number of potentially disastrous consequences. The first, and most obvious, is that the rule of law is the primary safeguard for the innocent. In addition, those seeking immediate extra-legal recompense are harming the cause of justice (and so their own cause) rather than furthering it.
Further, Lincoln foresaw the danger of the "mobocratic spirit," cautioning that by its effects, "the strongest xxxxxx of any Government, and particularly of those constituted like ours, may effectually be broken down and destroyed--I mean the attachment of the People" to the rule of law.
Violations of Our Equality
Our equality is preserved by the law, and it is the absence of the rule of law that leads to violations of our equal rights.
Lincoln feared that in the absence of the rule of law, we would run the risk of creating the conditions for the emergence of demagogues and tyrants rather than moderate and self-ruling citizens.
For Lincoln, the greatest danger of mob violence is that it weakens belief in the very principles that guarantee liberty, equality, and security, and makes room for violent passions and deeds. Without respect for the laws and manners that bind a people together, he cautioned that the people, seeing nothing worthwhile “to be done in the task of building up, would set boldly to the task of tearing down.”
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A Nation Built on Justice, Equality, and the Law
Lincoln understood how rare and fragile free systems of government were in human history, and that without the rule of law, our nation could very easily become one more sad example of a failed experiment in democracy.
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Today, Constitution Day, is the 233rd anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. With the violence and unrest that marks 2020, honoring Constitution Day through a better understanding of the Constitution itself is not merely an academic exercise but a pressing civic responsibility.
As we move forward, we hope that Constitution Day can serve as occasion to remember that the Constitution establishes the principle that no one is beneath the law's protection or above the law's enforcement—a principle that all tyrannical, authoritarian and unfree regimes, implicitly or explicitly reject.
And, hopefully, we can further take solace in reminding ourselves that it is our our very history that provides the best resource for seeking justice and righting wrongs.
With warm regards,
Mike
Michael Andrews, PhD
President
Jack Miller Center
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