A Nation Like No Other (8 page)

These groups expanded the bounds of civil society and provided a bulwark against tyranny, as volunteers worked to achieve common aims outside of government. They cultivated a vibrant civic life in America, an exception to this day from the life of all other nations.

The Declaration of Independence tasks the government with securing natural rights, not granting or creating them; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are gifts from our Creator, not from government. In order to secure these rights, the government is obligated to institute the rule of law. Crucially, the rule of law requires that government officials abide by the same laws they enact and enforce, and refrain from taking arbitrary action against the people—in other words, the government is bound by its commitments to exercise power in predictable and even-handed ways.

The Founders were convinced that the rule of men, as opposed to the rule of law, leads to tyranny. This was evident in the “abuses and usurpations” of the Crown listed in the Declaration of Independence. The king had consistently and impudently flouted the law, holding men without trial, refusing to enact laws for the general welfare, undermining judicial independence, and committing many other abuses that put his will above the law and above the good of the people. To the Founders, this arbitrary authority infringed on both the natural liberty of men and their equality, for no man stands above another in the eyes of God.

For James Madison, the problem lay in the uncertain status of the British constitution, which was an unwritten accumulation of traditions. The king could ignore or arbitrarily enforce acts of Parliament, since
there was no higher authority to provide redress. To remedy this tendency toward tyranny, the law had to be codified, transparent, and universal.
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Initially, the Founders established the Articles of Confederation to accomplish this goal and to tie the states together in a union. But the powers of the various states were in conflict, and citizens risked the same arbitrary application of laws as under the British Crown. Eventually, the Constitution became the ultimate basis of the rule of law in America, with clear delineation and limitation of the federal government's powers. The Constitution also expressly prohibited certain types of inherently arbitrary laws such as ex post facto laws (allowing people to be prosecuted for crimes that had been legal when they 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.”
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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.

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.
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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 delegates took comfort in the
willingness of the great man presiding over their debates to serve as the country's initial chief executive. Washington's ensuing presidency, along with his character and probity in setting hundreds of precedents for all subsequent presidents, were instrumental to the successful launch of the new republic.

As America's commander in chief, Washington prioritized the safety and security of the American people. He sent an army in 1793 to defeat hostile Indian tribes that were attacking settlers on the frontier in the Ohio River Valley, and the following year he personally led a military force that disbursed the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania without firing a shot.

Washington recognized that peace and safety required vigilance and military readiness. In addition to building up America's coastal and frontier defenses, he ensured the militias were well-equipped and prepared for battle. As the Anglo-French wars came perilously close to American waters and threatened America's trade, Washington recommissioned the navy.

However, Washington undertook these and other military preparations with the aim of forestalling war, not provoking it; his hope was that a well-armed, well-defended America would force other powers to leave the young nation alone to grow and prosper in peace. Striving to keep the United States neutral in the Anglo-French wars of the early 1790s, he warned his countrymen in his 1796 presidential farewell address of the danger of foreign entanglements.

Subsequent presidents heeded Washington's caution to prepare for war while seeking to avoid it. When the Barbary States of North Africa began capturing U.S. merchant ships in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, holding American sailors for ransom and even enslaving them, our earliest diplomats, notably New York's John Jay, first tried to find a diplomatic solution. When those efforts failed, the war-weary federal government adopted the European practice of paying the Barbary States an annual tribute to prevent further attacks.

By 1801 the situation had become intolerable. The bribes paid to the pirate states exacted a heavy toll on the federal budget and enraged the American people while failing to end the pirates' maritime terrorism.
Refusing Tripoli's demand for further tribute, newly elected president Thomas Jefferson sent a group of American frigates to the Mediterranean to protect the merchant fleet. After skirmishes with enemy ships, Congress authorized the president in 1802 to “employ such of the armed vessels of the United States as may be judged requisite . . . for protecting effectually the commerce and seamen thereof on the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and adjoining seas.”

Although the conflict only comprised a few short battles and a successful blockade, the campaign against Barbary piracy—the United States' biggest military engagement since the Revolutionary War—secured a treaty ending the pirates' depredations. Preferring armed action over the continued payment of tribute, America showed the world that, though it did not seek war, it would defend itself from foreign attack and would protect its citizens' God-given rights to life and property.

American Exceptionalism is the remarkable and dynamic result of the American nation, sustained by the moral convictions of the American people, living out its freedoms through the people's habits of liberty. Such a dynamic society cultivates extraordinary creativity, courage, and allegiance, implanting the optimistic belief that any person can succeed who works hard and plays by the rules.

Five habits of liberty—faith and family, work, civil society, rule of law, and safety and peace—have been practiced by the American people as both public and private virtues. As responsibilities of a free people, these habits support and protect the unalienable rights of liberty and allow Americans to pursue happiness. The Founders appealed to these habits and, through word and deed, showed their countrymen their importance for the preservation of the new republic.

As the beneficiaries of the Founders' genius and sacrifice, American citizens are still responsible for cultivating and preserving these habits today. As Dr. Joseph Warren charged his fellow countrymen in 1776 before he gave his life for his country in the Battle of Bunker Hill, “On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important
question, on which rest the happiness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves.”

Parts II and III of this book will explore how these five habits of liberty evolved, how they helped to make America exceptional, how they are being dangerously undermined, and how we can revitalize them and restore American Exceptionalism. But before we begin that discussion, let's step away from our study of history and briefly consider, through the words of some notable witnesses, how powerful—and how crucial to our future—American Exceptionalism really is.

M
uch of this book will discuss American Exceptionalism as it relates to history and to America's political institutions. But we need to acknowledge that American Exceptionalism is something deeper than that—it's also a visceral, emotional attachment to America and to the common destiny we Americans share.

This feeling tends to be particularly strong in recent immigrants. Attracted to America by the prospect of freedom and opportunity, and often fleeing wars or oppressive governments, new Americans instinctively embrace the tenets of American Exceptionalism. There are many accounts from the early twentieth century of the awe felt by ship-bound immigrants upon seeing the Statue of Liberty, a sight that reduced many voyagers to tears. Talking to new immigrants today, we find the same deeply felt connection to America and the same conviction that something special sets America apart from all other nations.

More people from more countries speaking more languages and with more diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds come to the United States than to any other country in history. Every year the United States accepts more legal immigrants than all the other countries in the world combined.

People find opportunity in America that they can only dream of in their home countries. If Arnold Schwarzenegger had remained in a small town in Austria, he would never have become a multimillionaire businessman, a worldwide movie star, and a renowned politician. If Hakeem Olajuwon had stayed in Nigeria, he could not have grown into an internationally acclaimed basketball star. If Andrew Carnegie remained in Scotland, he would not have risen from being a factory worker to become a steel magnate and world famous philanthropist. If Levi Strauss had settled down in his native Bavaria, he would not have made his first name synonymous with an article of clothing now worn in every country in the world.