Do you ever wonder how in the world our country has become so free, when there are other third world countries today that do not enjoy the privileges we have? How did we do it? Well it all dates back to July 4th, 1776, when the men who would shape the path for our free country met together for one of their first times and declared independence from Great Britain, who had been basically ruling us at that time, since we started off as just an economic feeder for them. After Independence was declared, our Founding Fathers were motivated to create a free country that was almost opposite to the monarchy of the Crown. In order to do this, tools to establish and preserve freedom must be employed, and the most effective tools are establishing a balance of power between the government and the people, establishing unity, keeping selfish prejudices aside, and having a document and general audience that are flexible, or willing to accept change.
A balance of power is the foundation for a just government, because there is no one superior power, which would make the people feel safe and secure in their own freedoms. The reason for the people’s comfort is because the balance of power provides a fair environment for them; they know that no one controls them and they feel more secure in their rights. This balance of power also ensures that there is no true “ruler” of the new nation, because having one person in charge would create the same monarchy that Great Britain practiced, and this is NOT what the Founding Fathers wanted. This balance of power has ties with the Declaration of Independence, in which it states “that all men are created equal,” (Jefferson 18) which then implies that one man is not superior over another, which sets a strong establishment for freedom. As a result of this, an establishment for freedom is set because it starts with the people being secure.
Some people may say that a ruler is necessary for control of the government, that the creation of political parties would not have happened if they had a ruler. This may be true, but the fact that one person has the power to control a nation is dangerous because if anybody has power like that, it is bound to get to their head and create an absolute monarchy, like Great Britain has, as a result, or even worse.
Being united as one is also a very important tool to have to establish freedom, because of the time that would be saved in decision-making. Agreements are very easy when people are united, because in a united environment, everybody is a team player and does not think for themselves. This sense of unity allows our government to move forward and not stall the establishment of freedom.
It is possible that one person may have a different perspective on a decision, and they are in fact open to express a disagreement, as stated in the First Amendment (Madison 32). However, it is the choice of everybody else to agree with this counter argument that someone may have, because part of making decisions as a whole is establishing a majority vote rule, in which most of the people, [at least] two-thirds to be exact, have to agree with something in order to make it happen. This means that a selfish prejudice can easily be outweighed by the vast amount of people within the Convention that think for the people and not just themselves. In this case, selfish prejudices will not arise as often, because people with that mentality are surrounded by people who express humility towards everybody, so they change with their peers as a result of human nature.
Once freedom is established, tools must be used to keep it going strong, or preserve it, as well. One tool that people within the Convention especially can employ are to keep their selfish prejudices to themselves. Ben Franklin said it best, “I cannot help expressing a wish, that every member of the convention who may still have objections would with me on this occasion doubt a little of his own infallibility” (Franklin 44). People are going to want to become selfish along the way, since they have the power to make decisions, but if they keep their prejudices to themselves like Franklin asked them to do, it would really help the country perform towards the well being of everybody as a whole, and not just those in power. As a result, change is smoother, because it happens for everybody despite selfish thoughts in the back of the people’s minds, so they really cannot have resentment towards the change because they still benefit somewhat. It is better to have a small benefit than to have an utter disaster because you wanted things your way. This helps preserve freedom because it keeps people unselfish and thinking about everybody else, which is the key to our country’s freedom.
Every road has bumps in it, and whoever takes the road must be able to handle these bumps. With that in mind, flexible documents and people who are willing to accept change are those that will conform to those bumps. Preserving freedom means to keep it going, and it will not continue on this path if a bump throws it off. A great example of this is the Roman Empire, which was the most powerful empire back in its day. Their downfall was surprising, because they were basically a larger-than-life power. The reason for their downfall was not surprising: they could not adapt to change (Vega Room 18). The Constitution is the main document that lists our basic laws and freedoms, and it must change along with the people in order to keep up with them, or else it will become ineffective in keeping our country in order. Freedom in our country will last for a while if the people and documents can adapt to change, because we are still are here today as one of the most powerful nations in the world.
Some can say that change will cause arguments, because people may want a different change. However, their idea must be selfish, because why else would they want something different? If they suggested it, and no one else did so, it must be because it ties to a self-benefit that they truly desire. This idea of a different change must be kept to oneself because it could have a lot of flaws and the person suggesting it does not know that yet. This could then cause an argument because the person suggesting the change was undoubtful of their infallibility, thus wasting time in establishing a preserving the freedom that the new nation wants to have for its people.
As you can see, the most important tools to establish and preserve freedom are to establish a balance of power between the government and the people, establish unity, throw selfish prejudices aside, and have a document and general audience that are flexible, or willing to accept change. With these four tools, two pertaining to establishing freedom, and two to help preserve freedom, there is no way that the freedom given to the people will cease, because it just cannot under these four conditions, plus many more that the new nation offers.