“This government never of itself furthured an enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it (the government) got out of its (the enterprise’s) way. It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the West. It does not educate. The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got it its way.”
This correlates with this quote from Dwight Eisenhower posted by Reluctant. The character inherent in the American people that Thoreau credits with accomplishing all that America has accomplished may be in danger of eradication unless we can regain a love for freedom at the sacrifice of false sense of security that government provides when it oversteps its bounds.
The government really has a limited role. As soon as it expands that role, it gets in the way of freedom. This is the topic of the next John Adams post.
I just read significant portions of The Political Writings of John Adams, a collection of writings from 1765-1820’s; some letters, some critiques of political writings of others. The main portion of the book is made up of his A Defence of the Constitutions of the United States of America written in 1787 in response to calls from some French and more democratic-leaning English writers for a single representative assembly embodying the executive, legislative, and judicial powers.
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This post started as a response to a comment by my friend Todd here in response to this post. Recently I read many letters of George Washington written throughout the entire founding period, collected in this book. The following excerpts are from letters written in 1779 in response to questions about the duration and management of the War for American Independence. They relate specifically to the concept of those who want to extend or encourage war as a way of making money.
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The entire duration of John Adams’ presidency was complicated by the threat of war with France. No one was sure how things would turn out as the Jacobins battled the old aristocracy and Bonaparte for control. The French were capturing U.S. merchants vessels and behaving as if the U.S. were only a transient entity on the world-stage. In the U.S. politicians, the media, and the people had divided themselves into two camps: the Federalists (led by Alexander Hamilton), who pushed for war with France to establish the U.S. as a power and to push attain vengeance for prior bad acts by the French; and the Republicans (mainly Thomas Jefferson and James Madison) who pushed for reconciliation and almost capitulation to the desires of France.
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