Forward To Freedom

Forward To Freedom - The American Constitution and Humanity's Struggle for Liberty Across the Ages is a fast-paced, informative, and inspiring account of the Constitution and its historical roots. It should be a must-read for all citizens of the United States, those aspiring to become its citizens, and others seeking to understand "government by the people."
The daily news is filled with references to separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, judicial review, and other constitutional principles. All these require comprehension of the Constitution if "we the people" are to hold our leaders accountable to rule within constitutional bounds. Forward To Freedom provides us such comprehension.

The Framers of the Constitution deeply believed that the hand of Divine Providence is at work in history. They well knew the exciting story of humanity's struggle for liberty across the ages and viewed the Constitution as a culminating moment in that struggle and one in which God played a role.

As the Framers knew, six thousand or more years ago the earliest civilizations of the Middle East crushed freedom in the name of divine right of one man to rule. Ancient Israel, which experienced several hundred years of republican government, proved the only exception. Freedom made some progress in Classical Greece and Rome, and the Framers learned from the Greek and Roman political philosophers. But Greece's efforts to build a stable democracy and Rome's attempt to remain a republic both ultimately failed.

The Framers thoroughly understood how limited government slowly developed in England during centuries of effort to limit kings. Final victory for freedom came with the Glorious Revolution of 1688 when consent of the governed henceforth became the basis of English government. At that time, English philosopher John Locke articulated fundamentally new principles of politics that rapidly became widely accepted in England and Colonial America. When England tried to greatly increase control over the American colonies than before, the result was the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence, which reflected many of John Locke's ideas.

The ideals proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence¬-liberty, equality, unalienable rights, and consent of the governed-remained only empty ideals until the Constitution institutionalized them in a functioning government. The Constitution is indeed the product of compromises reached at the Convention, but it also reflects agreement on fundamental principles of enormous importance. The Constitutional Convention produced a document that remains the oldest of any nation, and that became a model for the world and object of veneration by Americans. More than any other single factor, the Constitution accounts for the fact that the United States became the most prosperous and powerful nation in history.

Copyright Dedication Contents

Author's Preface

Introduction

Necessity of Government

The Concept of a Constitution

Success of the American Constitution

1. LEADING TO LIBERTY

Constitutional Development in Ancient Times THE ANCIENT MIDDLE EAST

Oriental Despotism

Israel

Divine Right of Kings vs. Constitutional Government

CLASSICAL GREECE Political Science Socrates

Plato

Aristotle ROME

The Roman Republic The Roman Empire

2. FOUNTAIN OF FREEDOM America's English Heritage

FROM EMPIRE TO NATION-STATE ENGLAND IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Common Law Kings vs. Tyrants Magna Carta

Parliament

ENGLAND AND THE EARLY MODERN AGE

The Future of Political Freedom in England Parliament vs. King

The Great Civil War

The English Republic

The Restoration

The Glorious Revolution Establishing Freedom The English Constitution

3. CONCEIVED IN LIBERTY

Constitutional Development in Colonial America

BASIC BELIEFS IN COLONIAL AMERICA The Puritan Exodus

Puritan Political Principles

Thomas Hooker and Connecticut

Roger Williams and Rhode Island

The Real American Revolution THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Self-Government in Colonial America

Toward Tyranny

Independence

The Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence and the Concept of a Constitution

4. TO SECURE LIBERTY

The Constitutional Convention of 1787

UNDER THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION New State Constitutions

The Articles of Confederation

Shays' Rebellion

THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

The Call for a Convention

The Men of the Convention Leading Delegates

The Manner of the Convention The Virginia Plan

The New Jersey Plan

Provisions of the New Jersey Plan Conflict and Compromise

Federalism: A Note About Terminology A Revolutionary Act?

A "Bundle of Compromises"

A New Order for the Ages

5. THE FOUNDERS PROPOSE

The Political Philosophy of the Constitution

The New Improved Science of Politics

The American Political Consensus

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF CONSTITUTIONAL

GOVERNMENT

The Purpose and End of Government Government by Consent

A Republican Form of Government Remedies for Diseases of Republicanism

THE MECHANICS OF GOOD GOVERNMENT Federalist #10-An Extended Republic Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances A note on Parliamentary Government Federalism

Judicial Review Political Progress

6. THE PEOPLE DECIDE

The Bill of Rights & The Ratification of the Constitution

RATIFICATION AND THE PROMISE OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS Dates of Ratification of the Constitution of the States

The People, Religious Liberty, and the First Amendment

TOWARD THE FIRST AMENDMENT

The Tide of American Opinion

Religious Liberty and the New Science of Politics Virginia's Precedent for the Nation

The First Amendment

7. PROVIDENCE

The Constitution, the American Civil Religion, and the Future of Freedom

America's Civil Religion The Future of Freedom

A Note on Sources About the Author

Other Books by the Author