U.S. Department of State Fiscal Year 2020 Agency Financial Report

Unalienable Rights and the Constitution T he genius of the Constitution, which was drafted in 1787 and came into effect in 1788, was to establish a unique design for a government capable of securing the unalienable rights affirmed by the Declaration of Independence. The Constitution translates the universal promise of fundamental rights belonging to all persons into the distinctive positive law of the American republic. According to the Preamble, the Constitution’s aims are manifold: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” In seven austere articles, the original Constitution – the drafting and ratification of which were themselves extraordinary acts of self-government sets forth institutional arrangements that enabled the people to rule themselves while respecting freedom and equality. The primary means by which the Constitution enables the people to secure those blessings is through the structure it gives to, and the limitations it imposes on, government. Limited government is crucial to the protection of unalienable rights because majorities are inclined to impair individual freedom, and public officials are prone to putting their private preferences and partisan ambitions ahead of the public interest. This is not to deny the capacity for public-spirited action on the part of the people or public officials, but to recognize the need for institutional safeguards for rights because of the unreliability of high-minded motives. Nor is it to overlook that, within its limits, government must act energetically and effectively to secure rights. The Constitution’s complex framework operates to constrain momentary whims and passing fancies of any given majority or officeholder; to cool the passions of public servants as well as of the people and redirect politics toward constitutionally appropriate goals; and to induce compromise among the factions that inevitably arise in free societies. Government so moderated is not therefore passive or sluggish. Indeed, the Constitution’s design aims to channel energy toward the vindication of rights. U.S. President George Washington in consultation with his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. A painting by Constantino Brumidi, circa 1790. Getty Images 2020 A gency F inanci al R eport U ni ted S tates D epartment of S tate | 39