Freeport High School - Clarion Yearbook (Freeport, ME)

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LITERARY But these fifty-tive men had the task of building a nation on the very principles that nobility scorned. We the peoplev was the authority, and personal liberty and personal rights were the aims. The constitution was to secure, under a democratic government, these rights and these liberties for all time. Certain of these rights had been causes of controversy for centuries. Even in America, where the king's agents held the whip, people had been denied the right of trial by jury. Per- sons had been imprisoned without trial. France was even then covered with Louis' lcttres de cachet which hc signed blank, and which would send a man to prison without trial. The new constitution must do away with such practices in the United States. And it did. WVe tind the provisions that all accused persons shall have the right of speedy and public trials by impartial juries in the district where the crime was committed, that they shall be confronted with witnesses against them, that they shall have counsel, and that they shall be given the means of pro- curing witnesses in their favor. In written law the right of trial by jury was secured forever, a right which less than twenty years before, King George had denied his subjects. The rack, and'the long cruel incarcerations in dank dungeons must be forsworu. In the same year that Louis the 16th com- mitted a woman to the Bastille upon the complaint, by unknown assailants, for no one knows what, the American statesmen wrote into their constitution, Excessive bails shall not be rc- quired, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual pun- ishments inflicted, nor shall any warrants be issued but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particu- larly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized. It was a thrust at the hated customs of Europe. It was a gesture of the heart, and it has stood un- changed for better than a lu1nd1'ed years. I 29

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THE OLARI ON Che Constitution, it LBuarantee of Tlnbivioual liberty In 1787 fifty-tive inen gathered in Philadelphia to prepare the working policy ofa new nation. A nation founded on revolu- tion whose every principle should be in contrast to all past and present governmental policies. Kings and princes were for- gotten. People who had never known any nation but a lnon- archy we1'e to propose a ruler who had heretofore been ruled. They were to suggest to a wo1'ld of kings that there could be no ruler of man other than man 3 that man had no earthly 1113.5- ter but himself. The eyes of the world were focused on that gathering in Philadelphia. Everywhere the connnon people were for a pol- itical Messiah. In France the masses were waiting for the day when the Bastille would be overthrown. ICngland's kings were making a last stand against the inroads of democracy. And there came the Constitution of the United States tJfAl1lGl'iC2.. All men are created equal .......... certain unalienable rights .......... life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. America had said but eleven years before. The idea was not new. In 1700 people knew of John Locke and his theories about Contract Governuient--that governments are instituted among men, deriving their powers from the people governed. John Jaques Rousseau had said that the 'first origin of government was the will of the people, and fourteen years after his death the French set up a republic on that theory. The idea was not new, but heretofore no nation had tried to operate on it. The world turned to regard this new state, which cast aside the governmental policies ot centuries, and dared to say that the com mon people were lit to rule themselves. Kings, nestled in the castles and traditions of ages, sneered. They,ll have a king in ten yearsf, said a meinber of the British Parliament. Trial and error again, reinarked the French minister of the moment. 28

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THE ULARI ON Religion had torn asunder both states and peoples. Europe had been the scene of countless revolts against the principles of state churches. Kings assigned their personal beliefs as the dogma of the nation. Free-thinkers were outlaws, for free- thinking was denied. A law had passed in England by Parl- iament, for abolishing diversity of opinion. In 1732 a sign on the Medard cemetery in Paris l'J1'0Cl21lI116ll, By o1'der of the King. God is hereby forbidden to perform miracles in this place. As the king wills, so the law wills, was the text of religion in France until 7 5 years before she became a republic. Even in America, Roger lrVilliams, because of his Quaker be- liefs, had been maltreated and banished. But under the new code of laws these affairs could not be. Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. N o relig- ious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any oftlice or public trust under the United States? And today the least and the greatest of religions may enjoy the same privileges and rights, under the one flag. Indictment by grand jury was granted and private property could not be taken for public use without just payment by the government. Under the feudal system the land might be used by the nobility for any purpose, and the tenantlwhether he owned the land or not-had nothing to say. Not only his land, but his pigs, his poultry, crops, and anything that he had, including his life, were at the beck and call of the man higher up. The new Constitution provided that a man should be secure in his life, liberty, and property. In France at that time, the king might order troops to dis- perse a mass meeting. Voltaire had been thrown in the Bast- ille beeause he wrote contrary to the beliefs of the king. Books were suppressed unless they conceded to whims of the nobility. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right to as- 30