The Principles Underlying the Constitution

“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.” ISAIAH 54:17

The United States is not merely one more nation added to the list of nationalities. It stands for certain special ideas and special principles which have never been definitely expressed in concrete form in the world before. These ideas may be summed up in the conception of personal freedom and unlimited opportunity.

What may be called the American Spirit is an intangible though very real thing in itself, but as far as it can be put into words it has been expressed in the two great official documents of the American Republic, namely, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

These two documents are among the most remarkable ever written, and their effect upon the history of the world has probably never been surpassed. They are both quite short, not more than a few thousand words in length, but every thoughtful man anywhere, and certainly every American, should make himself acquainted with them. They can be easily obtained, well printed and bound up together, for about ten cents.1 So there is no excuse for not being familiar with their contents.

The first thing that strikes us in considering these documents is the remarkable difference in their approach to the subject. The Constitution contains no direct preaching at all. It makes no direct statements about the nature of man or his destiny, or of man’s relations with other people or with God. It is, seemingly, just a dry legal document. Never does it say in so many words that man should be free, that human beings should live together in brotherhood, or that man is the child of God. All these things are expressed or implied in the Declaration of Independence; and the Declaration is, I suppose, one of the most vivid and colorful documents that have ever been written. It thrills with hope and faith and enthusiasm. The Constitution, on the other hand, is formal, technical, precise, and not, at first sight, of any interest to the layman. Indeed, the Constitution and the Declaration might be described, in a sense, as the anatomy and physiology of government—the one concerned with the hard dry bones of the supporting skeleton, and the other with the warm living organs and tissues of life.

To understand the American Constitution one must realize that it aims at bringing about a definitely selected condition of things. It aims at a special way of life—a way of life that up to the present has only been found in completeness in the United States. It aims at personal freedom for the individual. It aims at the idea of substantial equality, and, above all, at equality of opportunity. No civilization had ever before aimed at that. The great Roman Empire had certain magnificent aims, but equality of opportunity was not one of them. The Greek civilization had wonderful aims, but they did not include that. Glorious Athens was always based on a foundation of slavery. The Middle Ages definitely rejected the idea of personal freedom and equality of opportunity, and aimed rather at discipline and uniformity.

America is the land of opportunity. This is an old saying, but it is still as true today as it ever was. An American said to me the other day that, while this statement might have been true at one time, he thought that it was no longer the case. He was wrong, however. The saying is just as true today as it ever was, as I hope to show in this essay. It is true that the western frontier has been closed for more than forty years, but the frontiers of scientific discovery and creative imagination can never be closed. And, as long as a people possesses individual freedom and equality of opportunity, these things will provide careers for all.

America is the land of opportunity. I myself have spent practically all my life in Europe, and so I come to American institutions and American conditions with a fresh mind; and the longer I live in America, the more I realize the substantial freedom that is here. In France and in England there is much political freedom, and there is personal freedom in many ways too—more political freedom in England than in France, and perhaps more personal freedom in France than in England. But, even in these countries, freedom is still limited in many ways unknown to Americans. In all the old countries, owing to their inheritance of the Feudal System,2 there are all sorts of invisible barriers to the free expression of the soul of man, which is part of the self-expression of God. These barriers are invisible. If they were visible the people would get angry and tear them down, but they are invisible, and they are nonetheless real for that.

In the United States, as one goes up and down the land and meets all sorts of people, he realizes that these invisible, and often very cruel, barriers do not exist here. I have taken the trouble to study this subject as well as I could. I have been in every state in the Union, and I have talked these things over with every kind of person. I have had the privilege of talking with some of the most distinguished people in America—with prominent statesmen, with some of our leading professional men, and with important industrial executives. I have also talked with working-men—with locomotive engineers, and with soldiers and sailors and policemen. In the course of my travels from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canada to Mexico, I have talked with New Englanders, with Southerners from the deep South, and with people from the Middle West. I have talked with cowboys on the plains and with prospectors and miners in the Rockies, and I have been all over California and Texas. I have talked with Negro laborers in the South and with highly educated Negroes in Harlem, and with Indians on the reservation; and, I think, with almost every kind of person that goes to make up the United States.

As I say, I have had the privilege of discussing just these questions with some very important people, and with many everyday people—the people one strikes up an acquaintance with at hot dog stands by the roadside, in dining wagons, drug stores, and village groceries. And I can be a good listener when I want to, and they have told me, each in his own idiom, what they thought about the things and the ideas that were moving them at the time. And so I think I know something of the conditions of life in the United States today. I think I know something of what I am talking about; and I am constantly struck by two things in this country: The first thing that strikes me is the personal freedom, and the richness of opportunity which is here in normal times. The second thing that strikes me is that most Americans take it all so much for granted, that, in a sense, they appreciate it so little. I know that they do appreciate it, but not, I think, as they should. They say, “How else would it be?” But I tell you that without the Constitution it could be and would be very different, because these conditions are simply not known in any other country. They never have been known anywhere else. Only in the United States is general personal freedom and equality of opportunity an accepted thing. And it is the object of this essay to help people to realize this.

On the subject of opportunity I am constantly amazed by the evidence which I find of the wealth of opportunity for the average man or woman. The country is just coming out of a nine year panic of belief in depression; but, in normal times, it is hardly possible that an industrious man should not find opportunity to rise to any level in America.

Some months ago, speaking on a public platform in New York, I asked the people to send me data of cases known to them personally, of men and women who had risen to the top in their own fields without any influence—without any of those invisible elevators and private roads that are so general in the older countries. I repeated the request in a radio broadcast a week or so later, and the response on both occasions was so large, I received so many authenticated examples, that it was utterly impossible to acknowledge them personally, nor can I deal with them here. From all over the country I received letters about people in local firms—not millionaires, but executives, managers, directors, people receiving good salaries, people in responsible positions, who have risen from the lowest rung of the ladder, entirely by their own efforts. I especially said that I did not particularly want stories about millionaires, because the number of people who could make a million dollars by their own efforts will always be too small to be important, and because a man of such outstanding ability could probably take care of himself anywhere. And also millionaires, as a class, are not happier than any other type of people. Neither did I want any of the standard “log-cabin-to-White-House” stories of former days which we all know so well. What I wanted was authentic examples of men and women of today who have risen by their own efforts to a responsible position of interesting and well paid work. Such cases would be really significant. Well, as I have said, I got so many that I cannot possibly reproduce them here, and, in any case, I much prefer that the reader should prove it for himself. This you can easily do, and I strongly urge you to do so without delay.

No matter what corner of the United States you may live in you can prove this statement for yourself, right there in your own community within the next few days. Take no one’s word, but make a few inquiries at first hand. Try two or three of the principal local factories, and you will find that several, if not most, of the really important positions are held by men who started years ago with no money, no friends, no social influence, and probably at first no education. Find out the stories of your own state and federal congressmen. The governor of the state himself is just as likely, or perhaps even more likely than not, to have made his own way in life. Inquire about the editors and the chief proprietors of your local newspapers. Select what you consider the best stories in your town or village, and see what the story behind them is. Inquire about the heads of whatever schools and colleges you may have in your district; and do not overlook the public library, the museum, the electric and gas power undertakings, the nearest radio station, or any other human activities that may be going on. With a little practical research of this kind, I claim that you will abundantly prove at first hand that what I say is true, and because these are local examples discovered by yourself, they will be a great deal more convincing than any second-hand examples that I could give you. This condition of things does not even begin to exist in any country outside of the United States.

Again, this country is almost completely free from most of the stupid prejudices that silently poison the very springs of life in other places. In every part of the old world people are steeped and saturated with prejudices of every kind which the young countries have either forgotten or never heard of. They do not mean to be prejudiced. They are not aware of it. These things begin with life itself, are imbibed with the first drops of the mother’s milk, and continue to seep in through the pores of the skin, as it were, every day of their lives. Indeed, it is the malice of such prejudice that the victim hardly ever suspects it. People from Europe who settle in America and go home from time to time on visits realize more and more on each occasion this fact of the absence of all kinds of stupid prejudices in the new world. Even the people they admire most in the old countries are apt to seem a little narrow-minded, a little snobbish, a little too satisfied with things as they are. It is difficult to put one’s finger on the exact spot, to locate it definitely in words, but beyond any question it is there. It seems to me that a good way to sum up the fundamental difference in outlook between Europe and America is to say that when a new idea or a new method presents itself, Europe says, “Why?” but America says, “Why not?”

Now I have said that I think that most Americans, and especially perhaps the younger generation, tend to take these things—this freedom of opportunity—too much for granted. I want to try to make you realize that they are not just a matter of chance, nor did they spring out of the ground overnight; neither did they fall from heaven complete. In order to exist, this condition of life had to be produced by people who wanted it. The people of the generation which produced it, the people of the Revolution, had to think it out. They had to work for it. They had to make sacrifices for it. They had to fight for it, and in many cases they had to lay down their lives for it. It did not come easily. The inspiration was there, but, as with every inspiration, it had to be brought out into practical expression; and that is always difficult. It is always easy to copy an older thing with slight alterations, but very difficult to do something really new and really better. In this case the inspiration came to the leaders, to the Fathers of the Constitution, as we call them; but they could have done nothing alone if the people had not responded, and worked, and fought, to make it secure. That generation did its work, made a magnificent success of it, and passed on. But I want you to realize that one generation cannot do any work once and for all. Each generation really has to do it anew for itself—or it could lose it. Just as this freedom had to be built up by those who wanted it, so it could be lost again through carelessness or indifference. There is no guarantee that any nation is going to have rights and liberties for all time, unless it has the mentality and the courage and the understanding to claim them for all time. One of the truest things ever said is that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.

Unless we are just as determined as were our forefathers to keep freedom and harmony and unity in the nation, we can lose them; just as any man can lose his prosperity, or his health, or his character, if he ceases to value these things and to work for them. Freedom is a thing that must be won anew by each generation for itself.

If you will not take the trouble to serve your country to the small extent of registering and voting at every election, of giving reasonable time to the study of public questions, and of raising your voice in the right way in favor of what you believe to be right and against what you think is wrong, you are betraying your country and helping to make it possible for her to lose her freedom. Our fathers risked all to obtain these rights, and we are only called upon to do a little thinking and a little voting to keep them; and yet even that is too much for some people.

Now let us consider the Constitution itself in a little more detail. In studying it carefully you will find one general principle running right through it, one general spirit underlying every paragraph and every clause; namely, the idea of producing a balance of power, the idea that no one man, and no particular group of people, could seize upon power and dominate everyone else. This was done because the framers of the Constitution well knew that no human being is ever fit to have absolute power over his fellowmen.

The Fathers of the Constitution—Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, Monroe, Benjamin Franklin, and the others—were men who knew their subject thoroughly because they had studied it profoundly. They were not just a group of casual people who started a casual thing in a casual way. They had studied the ancient civilizations and the methods of government employed therein. They had studied the medieval systems, and they had studied the various constitutions in force in Europe in their own day. They were well acquainted with the great classical writings on the subject of government, such as those of Plato3 and Aristotle,4 as well as the works of later writers like Machiavelli5 and Sir Thomas More,6 and with the later European speculations on the subject of Thomas Hobbes,7 John Locke,8 Montesquieu,9 and others. They therefore came to their great task very thoroughly equipped. They knew the results of most of the experiments that had already been made in the world.

Above all, they knew, although perhaps they did not in every case fully realize it, that man is here on earth to develop his soul, to become self-reliant, self-expressive, and self-determined, in order, as we say, to glorify God. This great truth was obtained inspirationally, through the same divine inspiration that produced the Great Seal and made the design of the American money what it is.10

So they carefully framed the Constitution so that it would prevent any repetition in America of the sort of tyranny which has come about in Europe so many times in the last three thousand years.

For tyranny is nothing new. It has established itself both in Europe and in Asia again and again through the centuries. If Washington and Jefferson could come back today and read the front pages of our newspapers containing the news from Europe, they would find nothing there that they had not already read many times concerning other civilizations. So they were determined to draw up a document in which there should be such a balance of power that personal or group tyranny would be impossible. Absolute power would corrupt an archangel—and they knew it. If an archangel should today obtain absolute power over any group of human beings, it would not be very long before he became an arch demon. The fathers of the republic knew that absolute power is always abused, so they balanced the Constitution with a perfect system of checks and safeguards.

It is a remarkable fact that the principles embodied will be found to apply equally well to the government of any lesser organization, and even to the management of the human soul itself. If you wish to develop your personality in an all-round and harmonious way, physically, mentally, and spiritually, you will find that by balancing the faculties of your soul and the various needs of your nature on these principles, you will attain the quickest and surest results in progress. The spirit underlying the Constitution, the spirit of a balance of power to permit freedom of growth, is one of almost universal application.

The American Constitution makes certain assumptions about the average man. It assumes that the average man is a sensible sort of fellow. It assumes that he is honest, and it assumes that he is good-natured. You say, “Well, of course, that is natural.” Once more I tell you it is not a matter of course. All the previous civilizations were based on exactly the opposite assumptions. All the polities of the ancient world, and of the Middle Ages in particular, were founded on the idea that the average man is naturally foolish; and that unless he is watched and controlled and regimented and scared half out of his wits, he will get into mischief and damage himself or other people in some way. They assumed that he is dishonest. They assumed that he is extremely selfish, and is usually actuated by the lowest motives. Of course, these statements were never written down anywhere. Statesmen do not write such things—such things do not look well in writing. But they wrote other things down, in technical and diplomatic language, that were based on exactly the premises that I have stated. Only in this Constitution is it assumed that the average man is to be trusted. Now it is easy to see why the Constitution calls definitely for personal initiative, personal self reliance, personal common sense, and a disposition to compromise sensibly where there cannot be complete agreement; and why it cannot work without these things.

The story of the drawing up of the Constitution is a most interesting example of what may be called intelligent compromise, without which no large number of free people can live together. Those were very grave days. A terrible war had just been successfully terminated. There was no United States then. There were thirteen independent states with, in some cases, seemingly conflicting interests, conflicting temperaments, and a certain amount of the sheer prejudice, which is never entirely absent from human nature. But these men got together and said in effect: “We cannot all agree on everything; if we insist on trying to do that, the whole thing will fall apart; and, having won the war, we shall lose the peace; so we must be prepared for reasonable give and take if we are to survive as a whole.” They did compromise. One state gave up one thing, another state another thing, and the Constitution was the outcome of it.

The American Constitution, then, would be unworkable unless the people were self-reliant, self-determined, and resourceful. There are nations who do not care for these things and do not possess them. I suppose we all have our favorite virtues. My own are self-reliance, initiative, resourcefulness, courage. I like these things better than anything else; but there are people who do not, and there are nations which do not. There are nations, for example, whose people like to be directed and ordered about, who like to be led everywhere and told what to do, and where and when to do it. Such people can do great things in the world through mass action, but they could not work with such a constitution as ours. This Constitution calls for people who prefer to take care of themselves. It is intended for the kind of men and women who desire to manage their own lives, and take their own risks, and fend for themselves, and be personally independent—and these very things are just the outstanding characteristics of the majority of American people.

But notice that, among other things, this policy means that there is sure to be a certain amount of suffering, because, when we are free we always make some mistakes. A convict in prison has very little chance to make mistakes. He is told when to get up, and when to go to bed, is given his food and obliged to eat it. He is told what clothes to wear, what work to do, and how he is to do it. He is taken out into a yard for exercise, and when it is thought he has had enough exercise he is taken back. He can hardly go wrong, he can hardly make a mistake, but neither, of course, does he ever learn anything. A free man will make mistakes, and he will learn by them. He will suffer, but suffering is worth while when you learn something. When you are not free you cannot learn, and so the suffering is only wasted.

Note very particularly that the Constitution does not guarantee equality of lot. You cannot have equality of lot, because human nature varies. No two men have the same character. No two men have quite the same amount of ability. Again, some will have less talent but a strong character, and go to the top for that reason. Other men—we all know some of them—have great talents, but character is lacking, so they remain at the bottom. This being so, there cannot be equality of lot, but there can be, and there is in America, true equality, which is equality of opportunity.

Stupid people sometimes say that the American Spirit is an absurd ideal because men are essentially unequal. The local electrician, they point out, is not the equal of Edison; and Emerson was not the equal of the man who groomed his horse. Of course, the authors of the Constitution were perfectly aware of this fact, and it is precisely this fact which they had in mind when the Constitution was designed by them. In a free country, equality means equality of opportunity to make the most of one’s talents; and equality before the law, which must not discriminate between one citizen and another. It means the absence of special privilege of any kind, under any pretense.

The Declaration of Independence does not say that men are born free and equal, because they are not so born. It says “created equal”—quite a different thing. Of course, we are all born different. It is equality of opportunity that matters, and it is equality of opportunity that the Constitution sets out to produce. Now we see that in this way, in this seemingly rather dry legal document, these inspired men were producing a general model for human government. Sooner or later the rest of the world will adopt the principles of the American Constitution. Human nature, being what it is, each people or nation will probably call it its own constitution, but it will be essentially the American Constitution, and it does not matter at all what they call it as long as they put it into effect.

The world today is relatively much smaller than it used to be owing to improved means of transit and communication. The automobile, the airplane, the telegraph, and the radio have made the dangers of over-centralization much greater than they were in the days of Washington, when it was a ten day journey for the average man from the Potomac to New York.

For this reason it is apparent now that the only practical alternatives to the principles of the Constitution are either a military despotism—call it what you will—administered by soldiers; or a bureaucratic despotism of permanent civil servants, whether you call it socialism or communism. Both of these systems undertake to guarantee to supply the individual with the physical necessaries, and both equally deny him the mental and spiritual bread of life. For this reason they are both eternally unacceptable to those who possess the American Spirit, quite apart from the fact that with any kind of despotic government, the grossest corruption is certain to creep in sooner or later because criticism is not allowed. So, if you do not wish to become the serf either of swashbuckling military adventurers, on the one hand, or of a soulless impersonal bureaucracy on the other, you must take a definite stand for personal freedom and the principles of the Constitution. You must care enough about it to defend it vigorously in every way that you can.

The Constitution is not an experiment. I was amazed the other day to hear an American (and supposedly a cultured one) say, with a shake of his head, “It is a remarkable experiment.” An experiment after a century and a half! That is not a bad run for an experiment, an experiment which now includes over 130,000,000 people on a subcontinent containing every kind of climate and almost every kind of natural condition. So far from being an experiment, the Constitution has justified itself completely. It has been an unqualified success. Any real difficulty that this country has had will be found upon analysis always to have originated in some departure from the spirit, if not of the letter, of the Constitution. Think it over for yourself. Read the history of the country, and you will find that the difficulties and embarrassments which the United States has had to meet in the last one hundred and fifty years and more, have always resulted from a departure from the spirit of the Constitution.

The Constitution has amply justified itself. It has given the people the highest standard of living in the world. The poorest people in the United States are still better off than the poor in any other country. In spite of eight or nine years of depression panic—and it is only a panic of fear—in spite of other difficulties, there is still a higher standard of living in this country than in any other. And the next highest standard, note carefully, is in the other free countries. It is in the countries where freedom and the rights of the individual have been trampled underfoot that the lowest general standard of living prevails.

The Constitution has produced the highest standard of living. It has produced the greatest educational opportunities. There are more opportunities for education in this country, particularly for the poor boy or girl, than in any place in the world. There are more chances for success and self-realization, and for prosperity and happiness for the average man in this country than anywhere else.

Under the Constitution, the country has prospered materially. It has won every war into which it has entered. And in general, the history of its dealings with other countries has been highly creditable. Never allow people from other countries to deceive or bamboozle you into the idea that the United States makes more mistakes than other nations, because it is not true. The United States has made mistakes, of course, because it is made up of human beings, and for the same reason will probably make more in the future, but all the other nations have made their mistakes too and without exception they have made many more and worse mistakes than we have. Here is the difference: This being a young country, and a free and democratic country, all the mistakes and errors are dragged out into the open and exposed, whereas in other countries, mistakes are hushed up, and a false front of propriety is shown to the world. Even in the countries where there is a free press, the tendency is to put as good a face as possible upon everything, so as not to give the country a “black eye.” The feeling is that the press is the nation’s shop window, and should therefore be dressed as becomingly as possible. In America, however, on the other hand, everything is dragged out, and our press seems actually to delight in making everything seem as bad as possible. On the whole, this tendency is a good and healthy one, for it is better to know the worst than to live with a false sense of security.

So, please remember that foreign countries are never nearly as virtuous as they seem; and that in the United States things are always much better than they seem. It has been said that it is a peculiarity of Americans that they will allow a scandal or a mistake to continue rather longer than would be allowed in most other countries; and they then get mad and tear the whole thing down, and clean it up, and put something else there that is far better than anything to be found elsewhere. This is probably true, and there is a thoroughness about it which appeals to me.

One of the criticisms of this country that is often heard is the alleged existence of political corruption, or graft, as the newspapers call it. Now there is undoubtedly some ground for this complaint, but it must be pointed out, first of all, that the amount and extent of political corruption has been grossly exaggerated. Unquestionably it exists; but unquestionably too the overwhelming majority of men in politics—city, state, and federal—are honest and sincere men doing the best they can in the circumstances. On the other hand, there is no foreign country without a good deal of “graft” too. In the older lands, however, the graft is much more scientifically, and, one may say, artistically carried out. There is none of the crudeness that makes it public property in this country. It is concealed in ways that generations of experience have made practicable, but nevertheless it exists, and it requires very little knowledge of human nature to realize that the more despotic the institutions of a country are, the more the hidden graft will flourish.

The reason political corruption exists at all in America is this. In this new and immense nation there are so many interesting and worthwhile things to do in the general development of the country that the best type of minds have no incentive to go into politics. Politicians, therefore, have tended to be of an inferior grade of ability and character. During the wonderful development of a new continent it is not natural that the somewhat humdrum business of political administration should attract the best types of men as it does in old countries where there are few other opportunities for a career. Now, however, it is obvious that public opinion has awakened, and that political corruption really is at last on the way out; and I have no doubt that before very long it will be practically a thing of the past in the United States.

Another criticism of which we hear much is the supposed existence of more crime in this country than abroad. A fair consideration, however, indicates that this problem too is being overcome. It must be remembered that the detection and arrest of a criminal is much more difficult here. In France or England or Germany for example, we find a homogeneous population having the same traditions and the same training. These countries too are in mere extent very small, and so it is much more difficult for a wanted criminal to conceal himself in England or in France. The United States is an immense continent, and there is still quite a mixture of races and traditions, and these will naturally tend to facilitate the operations of the crook. Also the existence of forty-eight semi-independent jurisdictions in this country has naturally made it easier for dishonest persons to escape the hand of justice; but this difficulty is now being overcome by the federal authorities.

Let us be clear also that the crime difficulty has not been a permanent thing in the United States, but was really a wave that followed the Great War, and the depression which made it impossible for young men to find work. When you take into account also the complete failure of the prohibition experiment, for which public opinion was quite unready, and the premium which it placed on law breaking of many kinds, it will be seen that the unfortunate outburst of crime which has marked recent years is really an exceptional and a passing thing.

Perhaps it will not be out of order to point out that the most serious crimes have usually been committed, not by Americans, but by foreign immigrants or their children, who had not yet had time to absorb the American Spirit. In many cases these desperadoes came from countries in which there had been no freedom and no secure government since the Roman Empire, and where the people, therefore, had never been educated to respect or to trust the law. Here again it is obvious that it is only a question of time before these evils automatically remedy themselves.

The United States has nothing to fear in the future as long as her people remain united in thought and feeling, and this they are certain to do. Two Americans, from no matter what different parts of the country they may come, or what the difference in their circumstances may be, will always have much more in common between them than either can possibly have in common with any foreigner, and this fundamental fact must be paramount in its influence.

So the Constitution gives us the foundation for a free, prosperous, and independent life for every citizen. The old fashioned phrase, “plain Jeffersonian democracy,” expresses the essential idea of the Constitution very well—as does the White House itself. A visit to the White House is a moral and spiritual tonic. Its simple, quiet dignity makes Versailles and Potsdam and such places seem almost theatrical and tawdry in comparison. It is not a palace, but the residence of a private gentleman who is acting as Chief Magistrate of the Nation for the time being. Most of the Presidents of the last hundred and fifty years have exemplified the same idea in their personal lives. Both Washington and Lincoln perfectly expressed that idea in their very different ways. Calvin Coolidge,11 when the news of his succession reached him, happened to be staying in the humble farmhouse of his father; that father was a magistrate, and the new President was sworn into office there and then on the family Bible. I have been told that Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in by a neighbor in much the same way; and it is certain that when the family moved to Washington his younger children were promptly sent to the nearest public school. Sentimentalities? I think not. They seem to me to be merely practical examples of the general outlook which we have been considering.

A true American will take pains to incorporate that outlook in every phase of his life. If he happens to be rich, he will carefully avoid all senseless luxury and unnecessary display; or anything which may tend to set artificial barriers between himself and his fellow citizens. If he happens not to be rich, he will not allow any false ideals to give him a sense of inferiority on that account, for he will understand that it is character that really matters.

Such, in broad outline, is the spirit of the American Constitution, and I, for one, am proud to pay my personal tribute to the lofty vision and the practical statesmanship it embodies.

*Originally published in 1939.

1. Rand McNally, Chicago.

2. See chapter 17, “The Historical Destiny of the United States.”

3. The Republic.

4. Politics.

5. The Prince.

6. Utopia.

7. Leviathan, etc.

8. On Civil Government.

9. Spirit of Laws.

10. See chapter 17, “The Historical Destiny of the United States.”

11. As Vice President he assumed the Presidency on the death of the President.

EMMET FOX