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American Heritage Short Paper

On September 17, 1787, thirty-nine men affixed their signatures onto what would become the framework of the American Government. Their pen strokes gave form to the outcome of the United States Government as it largely remains to this day. The product- the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights, was crafted on a foundation sketched by great ideas, measured against some of the greatest minds of its time, and polished by debate and discussion. The greatest philosophical contributions can be attributed to the works of John Locke and James Harrington, namely “The Second Treatise of Government” and “The Commonwealth of Oceana” respectively. They put into words, the Why and the How of what the patriots hoped to accomplish from creating their own country separate from England, mainly being that they wanted a form of Government that would not infringe upon the rights of man, and they wanted a structure that would uphold and respect the rights they desired.

“The liberty of man, in society, is to be under no other legislative power, but that established, by consent, in the commonwealth; nor under dominion of any will, or restraint of any law, but what that legislative shall enact, according to the trust put in it.” (Locke 41) This idea introduced by Locke, of a voluntary agreement to submit to an empowered body in the design that it would have that individual’s best interest in mind, is one that the colonists held in great regard. Rightfully so, they felt that the English monarchy had violated that trust, and so they turned inward to bind themselves to a new social contract in establishing the United States. This greatly influenced many words within the Constitution and especially the Bill of Rights being written, to defend their rights and protect that sacred trust belonging to that of a people subjecting themselves to civil law.

“And as a commonwealth is a government of laws and not of men, so is this principality of virtue, and not of man; if that fail or set in one, it rises in another who is created his immediate successor. And this takes away that vanity from under the sun, which is an error proceeding more or less from all other rulers under heaven but an equal commonwealth.” (Harrington 54) The colonists viewed King George as one who was acting out of greed and self-interest, thus becoming aware of the lack of virtue found in his acts of self-interest. They desired a government that would be protected against itself. They resolved this by establishing a commonwealth in the form of a government comprised of separate but equal powers that maintained a system of checks and balances that would ensure integrity of action. This is the body of the Constitution as it lays out the specific duties and guidelines for the three branches that would bear the load of a “principality of virtue” that they hoped to achieve.  

Both Locke and Harrington approached their philosophies somewhat with a hope that people, in some way could form a more perfect society. In the halls of Philadelphia, delegates met with that same hope, although under the circumstances of consequential times and with the responsibility of a nation’s birth on their shoulders. The rest they say, is history.