They Dared Call It Conspiracy
The origins and purposes of the U.S. Constitution cannot be adequately understood without an appreciation of the Founding Fathers’ anti-conspiratorial mindset. The Founders were steeped in biblical insights about the danger of entrusting power to fallen men. They also recognized that politics — which deals with the struggle to control the state — unavoidably gives rise to conspiracies.
Indeed, the term “usurpation” — which is found frequently in the Federalist Papers and other constitutional expositions published by the Framers — refers to covert efforts to seize power, undermine proper authority, or infringe upon individual rights. Accordingly, the Constitution designed by the Founders was intended to make the government subservient to law, diffuse power among separate government branches, and make those who exercised government power accountable to the governed. Through such provisions the Founders sought to frustrate the efforts of what they referred to as “cabals,” “intrigues,” or “combinations” against liberty.
Because the Founders understood the logic of conspiracy, they were able to anticipate organized efforts to subvert the rule of law, and thus prevent the consummation of such designs. “The freemen of America did not wait till usurped power had strengthened itself by exercise, and entangled the question in precedents,” recalled James Madison in 1785. “They saw all the consequences in the principle, and they avoided the consequences by denying the principle.” Madison insisted that the “first duty” of Americans, in their capacity as citizens, is to “take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties.” Citizens who display what Madison called a “prudent jealousy” for their freedom will view each such “experiment” as the initial sortie in an organized assault upon their rights. Once again, Madison’s admonition makes sense only if one shares his instinctively anti-conspiratorial outlook on politics.
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