Benjamin Franklin (left), John Adams (centre) and Thomas Jefferson discussing the wording of the Declaration of Independence.

In the course of the 18th century, the North American colonists became increasingly dissatisfied with being subject to British rule. They found that the British King George III (ruled 1760-1820) behaved like a tyrant, who arbitrarily introduced new and higher taxes, and who on several counts violated the rights that Englishmen were guaranteed through the Magna Carta (1215) and Bill of Rights (1689).

In 1775, a process of secession began. A “Continental Congress” was convened in Philadelphia, and on 4 July 1776 the North American colonies declared themselves independent. The declaration which the congress adopted was drafted by a small committee, the secretary of which was the young political philosopher Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826). The declaration stating that it is self-evident truths that all men are created with “certain unalienable rights”, and that these are primarily “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”, became almost a poetic symbol that was adopted by large parts of the world.

The declaration was the beginning of a long war of independence. However, one thing was to become independent – another thing was how to structure the political system. In 1787, a constitu - tional assembly adopted a draft constitution, which was subsequently circulated for ratification among the constituent states. In this connection, a comprehensive political debate took place in the USA. The most prominent members arguing in favour of the draft constitution included John Jay, Alexander Hamilton (circa 1755-1804) and James Madison (1751-1836), who later became president – all of them writers contributing to the series of pamphlets known as The Federalist Papers.

Madison saw the Constitution as a practical attempt at solving a fundamental problem: On the one hand, the federal state must be strong enough to ensure peace between the constituent states and in relation to external enemies; on the other hand, it must not be possible to abuse it in a tyrannical fashion to violate the liberty of the citizens: A democratic majority that could do as it pleased (tyranny of the majority) would be no less evil than the tyranny of a king.

Therefore, Madison wanted to separate political power as much as possible: between a legislative power (a congress with two chambers, elected in different manner, but required to agree in order to pass legislation), an executive power (a president with wide powers and with the possibility of vetoing legislation) and a judicial power (with the possibility of declaring legislation unconstitutional). At the same time, federal government was only to have the powers that had been expressly delegated to it. In 1789, Madison drafted a series of amendments (the Bill of Rightsthat came into force in 1791) listing all the obligations of the state towards the citizens. The Bill of Rights was among other things to ensure freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly (no. 1), the right to bear arms (no. 2), various procedural guarantees and the protection of private property (nos. 4, 5, 6 and 7), protection against “cruel and unusual punishment” (no. 8), etc.

From the Preamble of the Constitution
of the United States (1787).

“But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. (…) It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”

JAMES MADISON IN THE FEDERALIST PAPERS, NO. 51.

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