Our thanks to the author of Roads to Modernity for insights about the Enlightenment and the role of America, as well as other sources

                                                      ​ISSUE III: Slavery

Any report on the record of America and the Constitution would be incomplete if we failed to address the issue of slavery.  The importation of slaves to America is a matter of record, early 1600’s until 1808 when it was banned.  The abolitionist movement began during the Revolutionary era, with slavery banned in northern states by 1805.  The issue of slavery was the most contentious issue of the Constitutional Congress.  Without a compromise, the Union could not be formed.  The Southern states wanted all their slaves counted to maximize their number of representatives in the newly formed House.   The northern states said, okay, free the slaves and make them citizens.  The solution agreed upon was to count five slaves as three people for purposes of representation in the House.

​We the people are responsible for the quality of life in America through our personal conduct and are empowered to hold government accountable through our exercise of rights such as freedom of speech and assembly to secure effective governance.​

​One perspective to consider: it was the English-speaking people of the world that ended the global slave trade.  In 1750, three out of four people on the planet were slaves, serfs or indentured servants.  The notion of a person being a free agent, able to live one’s own life did not reflect the life experience of people.

In 1807, the British Parliament passed an Act to abolish the slave trade, allowing fines and confiscation of a ship as penalties.  In 1833, the practice of slavery was banned in all British colonies.  The slave trade effectively ended by 1841.  The role that African tribes and Muslim states played, capturing and enslaving enemies and people of their own country in support of the slave trade came to an end.

  • ​Civic Knowledge: Knowing and understanding how government and society are structured, and able to function within it
  • Self-Restraint: the personal will to modify and control one’s conduct in the public sphere for the good of society
  • Self-Assertion: Managing the balance between freedom to be oneself while living in a society that requires cooperation and compromise
  • Self-Reliance: readiness to fend for oneself, engage in daily life as an independent agent for necessities, while actively participating in civic life of a community 


​The founders were fully aware that the bold affirmation that all men are created equal, endowed with “unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” was unfulfilled for those trapped in slavery.  The US Constitution formed a nation dedicated to Liberty, and that commitment led to the liberation of slaves.  Lincoln dedicated himself to preserving the union in order to abolish slavery.

                                                        CONCLUSON

America made its own unique contributions to the Enlightenment era by promoting a new form of Representative government that codified the cause of personal Liberty, created a setting for civic liberty that served the best interests of society, and brought an end to the institution of slavery, overcoming thousands of years of human history.   

​After the Revolution and achievement of Independence, the nation shifted its focus to formation of a system of government. One of the major drivers of the national discourse in the 1780’s was the Federalist papers, a series of 85 articles addressing a broad range of issues of government.   The Federalist papers had three core contributors, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison.  The leadership of the Revolution plus the Federalist papers crafted the “politics of Liberty” that framed the discourse for drafting the Constitution and the governance of a new nation.  For a review of the Federalist papers, click here


The core statement in the founding documents is that "all men are created equal, endowed by our creator with unalienable rights to life and liberty.​"  The Constitution lays out the formation of a new government, composed of three branches with separate sets of duties and obligations.  Equally important, the Constitution is focused on Liberty by creating a government of constraints. Our Constitution is not about empowering government.  Instead, it is a litany of all the things government cannot do, putting the powers of government in a box, protecting the freedoms of the people.  The Bill of Rights secures the freedoms of the people versus the government.   The core statement in the founding documents is that all men are created equal, endowed by our creator with unalienable rights to life and liberty.

Liberty was the driving force of the American Enlightenment and inspired the design of the Constitution to sustain the new Republic.  Per John Adams: “It was in their town halls and assemblies that Americans acquired the habit of discussing, deliberating and judging of public affairs.”   The political society of the time enabled the transition to a constitutional form of government, a representative republic where the rights of the people were protected.

American Contribution to the Enlightenment

The Enlightenment era of a few centuries ago is deemed to be primarily a European (French, British, Scottish) contribution to human development.   It advanced central ideas of respect for reason and liberty, science and industry, justice and welfare. 

Can we make the case that there is a unique and important component from that era that is American in origin?

                                                                 ISSUE I: Liberty

In the 1770’s, America’s statesmen of the time of the founding of our country launched and advanced a political thought process that produced the first viable republic in human experience that has also survived the test of time.  America had thinkers, writers, preachers and statesmen who formed a distinctive intellectual class that became a political and cultural force, led a fight for independence and produced a nation.   Many of the ideas that led to the formation of the founding documents (Declaration of Independence, Constitution) were initially expressed in the writings of patriots such as Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and John Adams.  Per John Adams: “We must be an empire of Liberty, comprised of twenty or thirty millions of freemen, not one noble or king among them.”   For more information on the American statesmen who led the Revolution and formed our Constitution, click here 

​In America, our ancestors spent seven decades searching for a peaceful end to slavery, resorting to a civil war as a final solution.  The commitment to Liberty in the 1770's inevitably led to civil war with over 600,000 casualties, the equivalent of five million+ in today's population. 


With the election of Abraham Lincoln, eleven southern states, led by Democratic party governors, decided to leave the union rather than surrender their slaves.  For a deep dive into the record of slavery in America, click here   Given the actions of Democrat party operatives in seceding from the union, inflicting enormous damage to our country and society, can we make the case that the Democratic Party is the Party of insurrection? 

                                                        ​ISSUE II: Civic Virtue

The Founders had no illusions about human nature.   Tocqueville noted that “Americans may worship God in different ways, but all agree on the duties of men toward one another.”  He added that “In America, religion and Liberty coexisted and reinforced each other.  Religion is the safeguard of mores; and mores are the guarantor of laws and the pledge of its own duration.  Despotism can do without faith, but freedom cannot.” 

The writings on the topic of civic virtue can be traced back to the Bible, the political structures of Greece and Rome and the practices of many societies through history.  For a Representative Republic, the core civic virtues essential to success are: