March 4th marks the anniversary of the beginning of government under the U.S. Constitution in 1789. It seldom gets any popular attention. But it certainly deserves some, especially in an era when we have moved so far from the very limited government the Constitution authorized (limits enhanced by the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791) with American citizens as the clear losers.
One useful way to mark this uncelebrated date might be to remember what James Madison, the โfather of the Constitution,โ had to say about its meaning. After all, no one in our founding generation had a greater hand in constructing and interpreting the highest law of the land, and his understanding of a tightly limited government stands sharply at odds with the Brobdingnagian role our government has since arrogated to itself.
โHitherto charters have been written grants of privileges by governments to the people. Here they are written grants of power by the people to their governments.โ
โAll power is originally vested in, and consequently derived from, the people.โ
โThe diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate…protection of these faculties is the first object of government.โ
โIn a just and free governmentโฆrights of both property and of persons ought to be effectively guarded.โ
โTrue libertyโฆthe Constitutionโฆis its palladium.โ
โI am dogmatically attached to the Constitution in every clause, syllable, and letter.โ
โThe meaning of the Constitution should be fixed and known.โ
โThe legitimate meanings of [the Constitution] must be derived from the text itself.โ
โThe powers of the federal government are enumerated; it can only operate in certain cases; it has legislative powers on defined and limited objects, beyond which it cannot extend its jurisdiction.โ
โEqual laws, protecting equal rights.โ
โThe real measure of the powers meant to be granted to Congress by the Constitution is to be sought in the specifications…not…with a latitude that, under the name or means for carrying into execution a limited government, would transform it into a government without limits.โ
โWith respect to the words, โgeneral welfare,โ I have always regarded them as qualified by the details of power connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution…not contemplated by the creators.โ
โI cannotโฆlay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.โ
โIf Congress can employ money indefinitely…the powers of Congress would subvert the very foundation, the very nature of the limited government established by the people of America.โ
โThere is no maximโฆmore liable to be misappliedโฆthan…that the interest of the majority is the political standard of right and wrong…nothing can be more false…it would be the interest of the majority in every community to despoil and enslave the minority…re-establishing…force as the measure of right.โ
โLaws are unconstitutional which infringe on the rights of the community …government should be disarmed of powers which trench upon those particular rights.โ
James Madison, author of many of the most importantย Federalist Papers, defender of the Constitution before the Virginia ratifying convention, and sponsor of the Bill of Rights in the House of Representatives, was the preeminent interpreter of the Constitution for half a century. He made it clear that its role was to clearly enumerate the limited powers given to the federal government and to defend Americans from โthe first experiment on our libertiesโ by its hand.
Madison left no doubt that the Constitution was to remain the highest law of the land in fact as well as on paper because only then could our liberties be defended against government abuse. The Constitution was not to be a โliving documentโ that could transform its protections into excuses for the government overstepping of its limited, delegated sphere.
The anniversary of American government under the Constitution is an appropriate occasion to remember that, as we have increasingly abandoned its protectionsย against predatory government, the intended servants of our rights and freedoms now act more and more like masters than servants.
Gary M. Galles is a professor of economics at Pepperdine University. His recent books includeย Faulty Premises, Faulty Policiesย (2014) andย Apostle of Peaceย (2013).ย He is a member of the FEEย Faculty Network.
This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the original article.