Founding Principles

When the US was founded, the founding fathers were already aware of the rights guaranteed to British citizens in the Magna Carta (1215). It was originally a peace treaty between the King of England and the citizens.  It guaranteed the right to buy land, own it, use it and let your family inherit it. It guaranteed the right to a trial by jury, It protected lenders and merchants and courts enforced contracts. It limited taxes. It provided laws to protect the rights of citizens.

Prior to the Magna Carta, Kings were not required to honor any laws. This became the basis for Parliament and future law.

The founding fathers were British subjects. They used the rights established in the Magna Carta as a basis and starting point for the US Constitution.  When they were fed up with the taxes and treatment of their British superiors they wrote the grievances that appeared later in the Declaration of Independence and the British refused they broke with England.

The principles they used included all of the rights in the Magna Carta and then some. The founding fathers were heavily influenced by philosophers John Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau and Cicero and their view of fair government that offers freedom to its citizens. They had been using these principles to establish the colonial economy since the 1600s and they knew what worked.

The laws enshrined in the founding documents were heavily influenced by the Bible. The founders believed in “providence” and believed that God had endowed humans with inalienable rights that superseded any laws any government could impose. They believed these to be Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.  Property rights were next on their list and were guaranteed.

They proposed a small federal government with checks and balances to prevent corruption and created a Legislature to pass laws in compliance with the Constitution, Courts to handle the peaceful resolution of disputes and an Executive branch to enforce the laws and deal with other countries.

There was no income tax, no property tax, no inheritance tax or other federal tax except for Tariffs charged on Imports. They had “enumerated powers” granted by the States to limit the power of the federal government.

There were no provisions to use federal revenue for welfare. Families were totally responsible for its own members. Most of the functions now performed by the federal government were prohibited by the Constitution.

The federal government had it made. They had limited responsibilities and could borrow money and maintain a debt to repay any money they had to borrow to pay for military conflicts.  Citizens knew everything else was up to them and with freedom and the rule of law they flourished.

This was a meritocracy with the opportunity to earn money, invest money, keep property and the freedom to pursue prosperity. The economy was based on a private sector free market economy operating within the law of supply and demand to determine prices. That was achieved by not having government subsidies. This kept prices low. Those who did well became wealthy and so did their families.. 

In the 1700s, many citizens owned farms, others were craftsmen and merchants. Manufacturing was a cottage industry. There were blacksmiths and mill operations to grind grain into flour and saw trees for lumber. Goods were transported by water on barges and horse drawn wagons

In the 1800s the industrial revolution created factories and large businesses extracting resources. Inventions provided machines to make work more productive. The US mined coal to heat buildings and power steam engines, We mined ore for iron to build railroads and bridges, we extracted oil to produce lamp oil and made many tools.

In the 1800s we expanded the US though the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican War to reach from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. We offered land to settlers to move West.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader