Read Online A Nation Like No Other by Newt Gingrich - Free Book Online Page B

committed them) and bills of attainder (allowing for convictions without a court trial).
    While he was helping to devise the Constitution, Madison was also worried by the specter of the tyranny of the majority—which might use its power in the democratic process to undermine a minority’s rights—and by the prospect of an overly powerful judiciary. The Constitution implemented various checks and balances to guard against these threats, including a bicameral legislature, a strong executive with veto power over legislation, judicial independence, and the legislature’s power to impeach executive and judicial officials. Madison noted, “The great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” 17
    Though he did not see the need for a separate bill of rights, Madison acknowledged concerns of Anti-Federalists that the proposed Constitution would not adequately protect individual rights. To assuage their fears, he and other Founders promised to codify the people’s fundamental rights in amendments to be drafted after the Constitution was ratified. With the Constitution’s approval in 1789, Madison took charge personally of compiling those amendments, sending his proposals to the first Congress of the United States, which passed them. After being ratified by the states in 1791, the first ten amendments—the Bill of Rights—became part of the Constitution.
    The Founders believed that preserving the rule of law would require eternal vigilance. In Federalist no. 57, Madison asserted that “a dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government.”
The people, having organized a government, had to guard their own liberty and insist that government restrain itself.
    The Founders based the Constitution on a realistic assessment of human nature and provided sophisticated safeguards to counter the natural temptations of power. The debate over this charter was informed, deep, and thorough, and the ratification process assured that it gained the true consent of the people who would live under its authority.
GEORGE WASHINGTON AND THE HABIT OF SAFETY AND PEACE
    In order to secure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as unalienable rights, a society must provide for the safety of its members. John Jay noted the primacy of this consideration in Federalist no. 3: “Among the many objects to which a wise and free people find it necessary to direct their attention, that of providing for their safety seems to be the first.” Without security, liberty is temporary and ultimately meaningless.
    Both the safety and the liberty of the American people had a special guardian in George Washington. A seasoned veteran of the French and Indian War, a noted patriot, and a recognized leader in his native Virginia, Washington was selected by a unanimous vote of the Continental Congress as commander in chief of the continental armies.
    Washington led the revolutionary armies with dedication, courage, humility, and skill, transcending the lack of provisions from Congress and the paucity of professional soldiers in his armies. Waging war against the most powerful army in the world, Washington held his forces together in the field for eight years amidst a series of demoralizing defeats. He repeatedly helped to deliver strategic, morale-boosting blows against the British, and eventually, with the help of France, he secured America’s independence by capturing an entire British army at Yorktown. 18
    Washington’s decision to relinquish power after the Revolutionary War, in stark contrast to the power-grabs common to victorious generals throughout history, added to his stature. When he agreed to preside over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, his presence lent credibility to a contentious process whose outcome was far from certain. Throughout that hot summer in Philadelphia, the