Agenda

• Today

    - Announcements
    - Finish last lecture and writing exercise
    - Ideals and missed opportunities in early American government

• Next class: The Constitution: Checks and Balances, Separation of Powers, and Federalism

Announcements

• Credit for discussion and writing assignments

    - requires being present for the entire class
    - I typically allow 5 minutes at the beginning and end of class for late arrivals and early departures
    - If you arrive more than 5 minutes late or leave more than 5 minutes early, you can not expect full credit for participation

• Late arrival, early departure - do not disrupt the class

    - If you must arrive late or leave early, please do so quietly and without disrupting the class
    - Sit as close as possible to the door
    - Please do not ask me to repeat what you missed

Topics

    - Ideals in early American Government?
    - Missing the Ideal
    - Evolution of American Government
    - Thinking about solutions: what is still wrong? what is right?

Purpose and Dangers of Federal Government

The overall questions common to all people are:

• What is the purpose of government?
• What are the dangers of government?

Answers

A modern restatement of the philosophy of the Founding, Classical Liberalism:

The starting point: 1775 - 1783

• Every other major government was a monarchy

The starting point: 1775 - 1783

• Every other major government was a monarchy
• Monarchies tend to accumulate power, to become corrupt and abusive

The starting point: 1775-1783

The starting point: 1775-1783

This was only a first step to achieving classical liberal ideals of self-government and freedom

The main tension in American politics

What is classical liberalism?

• Not modern American meaning of liberalism

What is classical liberalism?

• Not modern American meaning of liberalism
• Enlightenment (especially Scottish Enlightenment) liberalism

What is classical liberalism?

Enlightenment (especially Scottish Enlightenment) liberalism

What is classical liberalism?

Enlightenment (especially Scottish Enlightenment) liberalism

• Limiting the power of government

• Government exists to protect individual rights

    - life

What is classical liberalism?

Enlightenment (especially Scottish Enlightenment) liberalism

• Limiting the power of government

• Government exists to protect individual rights

    - life
    - liberty

What is classical liberalism?

Enlightenment (especially Scottish Enlightenment) liberalism

• Limiting the power of government

• Government exists to protect individual rights

    - life
    - liberty
    - property

What is classical liberalism?

What is classical liberalism?

Limiting government power is intended to remove the major obstacle to:

• Allowing individuals to achieve their own goals and desires

What is classical liberalism?

Limiting government power is intended to remove the major obstacle to:

• Allowing individuals to achieve their own goals and desires
• Individual empowerment

What is classical liberalism?

Limiting government power is intended to remove the major obstacle to:

• Allowing individuals to achieve their own goals and desires
• Individual empowerment
• To pursue happiness

What is classical liberalism?

• Limiting government power is intended to remove the major obstacle to the pursuit of happiness.

• A limited government that tries to provide happiness would need to accumulate power and would eventually become tyrannical.

What is classical liberalism?

• Classical liberalism favors self-government: maximizing consent and minimizing coercion

What is classical liberalism?

• Classical liberalism favors self-government: maximizing consent and minimizing coercion
• Authoritarianism favors centralized power: the use of violent coercion to compel compliance with authority

Liberal vs Authoritarian

• Liberalism: freedom from violent coercion, maximizing individual rights
• Authoritarianism: security & conformity, maximizing collective power

What is self-government?

What is self-government?

What is self-government?

Two parts:

• individuals govern their own behavior

What is self-government?

What is self-government?

What is self-government?

• Individuals govern their own behavior
• Participation in government

What is self-government?

• What is self-government?
• Individuals govern their own behavior
• Participation in government
• Both are radical departures from monarchy

What is self-government?

• What is self-government?
• Ability to act free from violent coercion is literally every individual governing themselves
• Participation in government is the other part
• Both are radical departures from monarchy

How can we achieve self-government?

How can we achieve self-government?

Splitting up power was the primary focus of the American Founding after the Revolution

- State vs Federal
- Different branches of government

What about other issues?

• The focus on splitting up power missed some other issues

• Some of this was compromise

  • 14 of the states were independent nations before becoming states
  • Federal government needs enough power but not too much (Constitutional Convention)
  • Preventing bad long-term decisions (Amendment process, Bill of Rights)

Why do we care?

• What are the lessons for our own time?
• What issues do we need to continue fixing?
• Or do we throw it all out?

Fredrick Douglass “Fourth of July” Speech

• He asks, “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?”

Fredrick Douglass “Fourth of July” Speech

• He asks, “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?”
• He also speaks with respect about the Founders ideals and with hope about achieving the ideals of the Declaration of Independence

Fredrick Douglass “Fourth of July” Speech

• He asks, “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?”
• He also speaks with respect about the Founders ideals and with hope about achieving the ideals of the Declaration of Independence
• The speech was a condemnation of the wrong of slavery as a violation of the ideals of America

Fredrick Douglass “Fourth of July” Speech

• He asks, “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?”
• He also speaks with respect about the Founders ideals and with hope about achieving the ideals of the Declaration of Independence
• The speech was a condemnation of the wrong of slavery as a violation of the ideals of America
• The speech was not just a condemnation, but a hopeful invitation to live up to the ideals of America

Fredrick Douglass “Fourth of July” Speech

Complete text and video here

Fredrick Douglass “Fourth of July” Speech

Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men too—great enough to give fame to a great age.

Fredrick Douglass “Fourth of July” Speech

They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory.

Fredrick Douglass “Fourth of July” Speech

With them, nothing was “settled” that was not right. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were “final;” not slavery and oppression. You may well cherish the memory of such men.

Fredrick Douglass “Fourth of July” Speech

They were great in their day and generation. Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times. How circumspect, exact and proportionate were all their movements! How unlike the politicians of an hour! Their statesmanship looked beyond the passing moment, and stretched away in strength into the distant future. They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defence. Mark them!

Early Problems with American Government

• Slavery
• Limited rights of women
• Limited voting

Why were these problems?

Aside from the moral question,

Why were these problems?

Why were these problems?

America started out imperfect

• America was imperfect by its own standards
• Some of this was compromise

Slavery and Classical Liberal ideals

• Slavery conflicts with the ideal of individual liberty

Slavery and Classical Liberal ideals

• Slavery conflicts with the ideal of individual liberty

• Slavery conflicts with the basis of property rights

    - The basis of property rights is that individuals own themselves and their labor
    - The product of their labor is their property
    - Taking the product of someone else's labor other than by voluntary exchange is violating their right to property

Limited rights of women

• Women’s rights to own property were severely restricted
• This necessarily restricted their liberty
• There were explicit restrictions on women’s liberty

Limited voting

• Voting was

  • Restricted to land owners
  • Restricted by race
  • Restricted by gender

Moving forward

• Even A lot of the Founders recognized the problems
• Evolution and future solutions were expected - Amendments

How have some of these problems evolved?

• Slavery 1865¹
• Property rights for women - 1900²
• Voting rights - 1865, 1920, 1969³

Solutions? What is still wrong? What is right?

• Work to fix remaining (classical) liberal inconsistencies and contradictions? Rethink exact limits and role of government in a basically liberal framework?

    - Traditional Republicans and Democrats
    - Libertarians
    - Forward Party 

Solutions? What is still wrong? What is right?

• Retain the liberal structure

• Some other standard - some form of authoritarianism?

    - Populist Economic Nationalism (Trumpism)
    - Populist Socialism (Sanders, The Squad)

• How much of the current structure should remain? How much is safe to tinker with? Increase or decrease liberalism (limits on power)?

Solutions? What is still wrong? What is right?

• New problem: Massive new restrictions on individual empowerment at the federal level

    - Surveillance state
    - Censorship of speech and assembly
    - Economic restrictions
    - Political restrictions
    - Social restrictions 
    - Cultural restrictions
    - Educational restrictions
    - Health restrictions
    - Environmental restrictions
    - Technological restrictions
    - Religious restrictions

Authorship and License

Do not submit to Quizlet, Chegg, Coursehero, or other similar commercial websites.

• Author: Tom Hanna

• Website: tomhanna.me

• License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.