Sign 14 – US Constitution Established

Year:1788

Scriptures:

Doctrine and Covenants 101:80

80 And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.

“Historians are generally agreed that never before had there been such an assembly of men gathered to determine the kind of government to which they would give their allegiance. Thomas Jefferson exclaimed that the framers of the Constitution were ‘demigods,’ and other eminent writers have concurred with J. Reuben Clark's assessment that there has never been a ‘group that . . . challenged the supremacy of this group.’ (Conference Report, April 1957, p. 47)

“How does one account for such an assembly of talent at one time and one place in history? Generally it is treated as a fortuitous, chance circumstance when an opportune moment in history brought forth such talent.

“A more perceptive, reasonable, and equitable explanation that accounts for such extraordinary talents and abilities among men was offered by the Prophet Joseph Smith. On the basis of revelation, he declared the unique truth that all men and women lived before their mortal birth and that exceptional abilities were the result of faithfulness and effort in one's premortal life. Such an explanation is reasonable and just because it postulates that all people had something to do with developing their talents and abilities before they were born, rather than that God discriminately favored a few of His children with talents while depriving others of the same.

“The doctrine of man's premortality provides us with some expansive insights. Based on the Christian principle of the Fatherhood of God, fundamentally the doctrine is: all mortal beings are the spirit offspring of God and premortally dwelt in His presence as His spirit children. Because each received his or her spirit existence from Him, God is the literal Father of all mankind.

“In premortal life, spirits had agency and progressed in knowledge and intelligence in proportion to the obedience that they gave to the eternal laws of God. Not all spirits made the same effort or gave the same degree of obedience to eternal law. Accordingly, spirits developed different talents and aptitudes—intellectual, musical, artistic, and spiritual (Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1985), p. 34). The Lord revealed to Abraham this principle: ‘These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all (Abraham 3:19).’ Here we have at least three degrees of intelligences or spirits: one is more intelligent than another—a third is more intelligent than the other two. There were, in other words, gradations in intelligence. Differences among persons born into mortality are based on their premortal initiative and obedience, accounting for individuality and exceptional and extraordinary talents. In Latter-day Saint theology, there never was, there is not now, nor will there ever be equality of intelligence.

“In the account revealed to Joseph Smith, Abraham was shown the premortal spirit children of God, whom he described as ‘the intelligences that were organized before the world was.’ He saw ‘many of the noble and great ones.’ Standing among these valiant spirits, God saw that ‘they were good.’ Abraham was ‘one of them’ and was ‘chosen before [he] wast born (Abraham 3:22-23).’

“Prophets of God, considered as the ‘noble and great,’ came to earth to accomplish assignments given by God in premortal councils. ‘Every man,’ said Joseph Smith, ‘who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before the world was (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, selected and arranged by Joseph Fielding Smith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1976 365).’ Other male and female spirits, also noble, are given assignments to further the progress of mankind. Significantly, Wilford Woodruff declared the founders of the American Republic to be ‘the best spirits the God of heaven could find on the face of the earth. They were choice spirits (Conference Report, April 1898, p. 89 ).’

“The doctrine of our premortal life increases our reverence for God's omniscience. Only an omniscient God could direct the timing and placement of His children on this earth. Only God can providentially determine to what nation His children will be sent. Timing and placement are crucial to the accomplishment of His divine purposes. Thus, the assignment of select sons and daughters to come to earth at particular places and at a particular historical moment is neither haphazard nor accidental. Both Moses and the Apostle Paul implied this truth in their writings, (See, for example, Acts 17:22-26 and Deut. 32:7-9. For commentary on these passages that reflects Church theology, see Joseph Fielding Smith, The Way to Perfection (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1956), pp. 46-48) but it took latter-day revelation to clarify our understanding of it.

“With the perspective that we had a premortal life, we can see that it was not an accident of history that such an assembly of talent appeared on the scene at one time and in one nation. They came to earth by assignment from God; this assignment, according to their words to Wilford Woodruff, was to ‘lay a foundation’ of a new government that would provide freedom to all. That freedom was a necessary precursor for a later restoration of the gospel. That is why the founders of the American republic are rightfully respected in Church theology as necessary forerunners to the great latter-day work of establishing the kingdom of God on earth before the Savior comes again….

“Historians have not been oblivious to the intellectual and religious influences that gave rise to the unique American political system embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The fundamental doctrine of government through the rule of law rather than government through the rule of a sovereign was not a unique idea of the Founding Fathers. Previous political thinkers had enunciated this idea centuries before, but their ideas were not fully developed until the framers of the Constitution collaborated to debate the kind of government under which they would live. Happily, the framers were familiar with history, common law, and philosophy. They may have traveled in horse-drawn carriages, but they ‘carried under their hats... a political wisdom garnered from the ages (J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Stand Fast by Our Constitution [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1973] 16).’

“That political wisdom included belief in four fundamental principles: First, a belief in the natural rights of man; second, that people cannot be taxed without their consent; third, that the best way to preserve liberty is to separate and limit the powers of government; and fourth, that the powers of self government could be delegated to representatives of their own choosing.

“As British subjects, the framers brought to the Constitutional Convention the British common law precedent of rights and liberties. These rights and liberties had been secured by centuries of struggle wherein the Britons won concessions from kings who held to the Justinian Code that ‘the prince stood above the law.' That view represented the European continental conception of government, that he who rules holds all power, rights, and authority.

“The first political concession that limited a monarch's power was made on June 12, 1215, when King John was compelled to sign the Magna Charta. The Great Charter established two principles that form the basis for English constitutional law. First, there are certain laws that even the king is compelled to obey; and second, if the monarch (government) refuses to obey these laws, the nation has the legitimate right to overthrow the government. This historic right was later invoked by the colonists in the Declaration of Independence when they stated that the king of England had so infringed upon the rights of his subjects that he was ‘no longer fitted to be the ruler of a free people.’

“In the seventeenth century, Parliament presented to Charles I a Petition of Rights. The petition was a reassertion of the provisions of the Magna Charta, demanding that the king agree to what was already the law of the land. The king was unwilling to acknowledge these provisions, so Parliament demanded his formal consent. Charles I resisted. But because he needed money to operate his government, and because Parliament refused to vote him money until he agreed to their petition, he reluctantly signed the petition on June 7, 1628. He thereafter dissolved Parliament and refused to grant the rights to which he had agreed. For that, he was subsequently carried to the scaffold and beheaded.

“The monarchy was not restored until 1660, when Charles II agreed to the provisions of the Magna Charta and the Petition of Rights. However, his brother, James II, who succeeded him, reasserted the right of absolute monarchy. In the Revolution of 1688, James was forced to abdicate, and parliamentary rule was established once and for all among the British people.

“In 1689, Parliament established a constitutional landmark—the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights provided in written form specific rights of the people that are fundamental to British constitutional law. Excessive bail, fines, and cruel and unusual punishment were declared illegal. Only Parliament could levy taxes. The bill also gave citizens the rights to bear arms. The king could not suspend laws or create courts outside of established law.

“England's revolution was between the monarch and Parliament. Out of this struggle emerged the by-product—liberty for British citizens. So profound was the impact of the revolution upon the Puritan settlers in America that they instituted the same principles in their colonial government—principles that had been won by centuries of struggle. That struggle, however, established in the minds of the British subjects the idea of government by law rather than government by a sovereign. A century later this would find expression in the Constitution and the first eight amendments to the Constitution.

“John Locke's ideas formed the basis for both the English and the American revolutions. His Two Treatises of Government was not published until two years after the English Revolution, but the manuscript had been in existence for twenty years, so his ideas were well known. According to Locke, all people have certain natural rights, which consist of life, liberty, and property. In order to protect these rights, people form a government by social contract. Government, he reasoned, has certain powers to govern so long as it rules fairly and equitably in preserving the rights of the people. Should government break the contract by arbitrarily removing these unalienable rights, those governed are relieved of their contract. They then had the absolute right to rebel and to establish a new government.

“Other key ideas of Locke—sovereignty of the people, government resting on the consent of the governed; the legislature as the supreme power but its power delegated by the people, who may withdraw it; and the executive as the agent of the legislature—provided the fundamental philosophy for the colonists.

“Another idea that found expression in the American system was the belief that liberty could be preserved by limiting government. Baron de Montesquieu conceived that the best way to achieve this was by separating the powers of government into three departments: executive, legislative, and judicial. The doctrine of separation of powers is a cardinal feature of the U. S. Constitution.

“There were also undeniable Christian influences on the founders that sponsored their ideas about civil liberties as expressed in the Bill of Rights. Moreover, the entire American legal tradition (judicial review of government acts, presumption of innocence of the accused, compensation to those negligently injured, equal protection of the right of a person to have a court determine reason for his or her detention) is based on biblical justification.

“But a written constitution was not conceived only from the ideas of these preceding philosophers and events. For 169 years, the colonists experimented with varying forms of government under British rule. In some instances, they had substantial autonomy of rule. Through experience with charters, colonial legislatures, and later state constitutions, they learned the value of self-government as a means to secure their liberty. But even though some local autonomy had been granted to the colonists, Parliament still insisted on regulating colonial commerce through navigation acts and through levying taxes….

“Resistance to taxation by the colonists rested on the historical British constitution that it was unlawful to tax without the consent of citizens through lawfully appointed representatives. The colonists, of course, had no representation in Parliament, so they denied that Parliament had the right to tax them. When the British imposed the dreaded Stamp Act and enforced it by the innovation of admiralty courts, the colonists reacted violently. The most notable firebrand of the revolution, Patrick Henry, denounced the act as illegal. The act was subsequently repealed, but the British government insisted on the supremacy of Parliament to maintain its right to tax and to regulate commerce. This disagreement reached a crisis with the Boston Tea Party and resistance to other acts regarded by the colonists as unlawful. They took their first steps toward union by sending representatives to the First Continental Congress in 1774. The delegates made a list of grievances and asserted their right to live as British subjects. Britain refused to redress their grievances. Hostilities then broke out in Massachusetts when local farmers attacked British troops at Lexington and Concord. The British declared Massachusetts in a state of rebellion.

“When the Second Continental Congress convened in May 1775, some members of Congress still hoped for reconciliation. Again Congress petitioned England. King George dismissed their petition with contempt and pronounced them rebels. Finding that they could not have the rights of English citizens, the colonists rebelled, and the revolution commenced.

“Momentous events in history are the result of colliding influences: the personalities in a drama, an issue or a crisis, and a timing that synchronizes these influences into a historically significant event.

“We can hardly imagine a greater confluence of forces—an issue that had crescendoed for centuries, a king who desired to preserve the view that he who has power has the right to dictate, and the colonists who were willing to sacrifice their lives to be independent from oppression. Had it not been for the collision of these opposing philosophies and personalities the American Revolution might never have occurred. Brigham Young intimated as much when he said: ‘The king of Great Britain . . . might... have been led to... aggressive acts, for aught we know, to bring to pass the purposes of God in thus establishing a new government upon a principle of greater freedom, a basis of self government allowing the free exercise of religious worship (Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints' Book Depot, 1854-1886] 2:170).’

“That the American Revolution was foreknown by God and foreordained to happen is evident from some remarkable prophecies from the Book of Mormon, which were recorded some twenty three hundred years before the revolution transpired….

“The galaxy of incomparable leaders that came on the scene at one time and in one place to provide the world with an ensign of liberty was divinely directed. God held these men in reserve to come forth at a precise moment in history to declare independence for a nation that was foreordained to be a sanctuary of freedom. They were not insurrectionists. Their revolution was an appeal to higher law that entitled them to revolt against any government that broke its contract to preserve their unalienable rights. It was done in recognition of natural rights and the established precedent of British common law. Once the revolution was accomplished, these leaders demonstrated their virtue by establishing a new government that ensured to all citizens their God-given rights .” (William O. Nelson, The Charter of Liberty: The Inspired Origin and Prophetic Destiny of the Constitution [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1987] 24)

Divinity of the Constitution

President Ezra Taft Benson has made numerous comments about the divinity of the Constitution. “About two hundred years ago some inspired men walked this land. Not perfect men, but men raised up by the Perfect Man to perform a great work. Foreordained were they to lay the foundation of this republic. Blessed by the Almighty in their struggle for liberty and independence, the power of heaven rested on these founders as they drafted that great document for governing men-the Constitution of the United States. Like the Ten Commandments, the truths on which the Constitution were based were timeless; and also as with the Decalogue-the hand of the Lord was in it. They filled their mission well. From them we were endowed with a legacy of liberty-a constitutional republic.” (Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988] 595)

“The Constitution of this land, with which we should all be familiar, is the only constitution in the world bearing the stamp of approval of the Lord Jesus Christ (D&C 101:76-80).” (Be True to God, Country, and Self, Young Adult Fireside, Logan, Utah, 11 February 1979)

“During the Constitutional Convention of 1787-which in four months drew up the basic laws of our land-the Congress at one time was about to adjourn in utter confusion. The attempt to establish a lasting union had apparently failed. At this crucial moment, eighty-one-year-old Benjamin Franklin arose, and is reported to have said, ‘In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard and they were generously answered…. I have lived a long time and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth-that God governs in the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it possible that an empire can rise without His aid?’ Then Franklin proposed that the Congress seek divine aid, and they should begin each session with a petition to the Almighty.” (Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988] 597)

“The Constitution was designed to work only with a moral and righteous people. ‘Our Constitution,’ said John Adams (first vice-president and second president of the United States), ‘was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.’

“In recognizing God as the source of their rights, the Founding Fathers declared Him to be the ultimate authority for their basis of law. This led them to the conviction that people do not make law but merely acknowledge preexisting law, giving it specific application. The Constitution was conceived to be such an expression of higher law. And when their work was done, James Madison wrote: ‘It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stage of the revolution’ (The Federalist, no. 37).“ (Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988] 597)

“We must return to a spirit of humility, faith in God, and the basic concepts upon which this great Christian nation has been established under the direction of Divine Providence. We must return a realization of the source of our strength. Then will we realize the truth of what President George Albert Smith said: ‘The Constitution of the United States of America is just as much from my Heavenly Father as the Ten Commandments’ (CR April 1948, p. 182).” ( Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3 vols. edited by Bruce R. McConkie [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954-1956] 3 75)

“The Federal Convention convened in the State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia on May 14, 1787, to revise the Articles of Confederation. Because the delegations from only two states were at first present, the members adjourned from day to day until a quorum of seven states was obtained on May 25. Through discussion and debate it became clear by mid-June that, rather than amend the existing Articles, the Convention would draft an entirely new frame of government. All through the summer, in closed sessions, the delegates debated, and redrafted the articles of the new Constitution. Among the chief points at issue were how much power to allow the central government, how many representatives in Congress to allow each state, and how these representatives should be elected--directly by the people or by the state legislators. The work of many minds, the Constitution stands as a model of cooperative statesmanship and the art of compromise.” (Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 Vols. 2:271)

The Constitution was adopted by a convention of the States on September 17, 1787, and was subsequently ratified by the several States, on the following dates: Delaware, December 7, 1787; Pennsylvania, December 12, 1787; New Jersey, December 18, 1787; Georgia, January 2, 1788; Connecticut, January 9, 1788; Massachusetts, February 6, 1788; Maryland, April 28, 1788; South Carolina, May 23, 1788; New Hampshire, June 21, 1788. Ratification was completed on June 21, 1788.