“Understanding and Defending Constitutional Principles,” Liahona, Sept. 2022, United States and Canada Section.
Understanding and Defending Constitutional Principles
Constitutional principles, when understood and maintained, establish peaceful parameters around government.
In an April 2021 general conference address, President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency, taught that “Latter-day Saints [have] a unique responsibility to uphold and defend the United States Constitution and principles of constitutionalism wherever we live.”1
I see both an invitation and a challenge in that statement. The invitation is to learn more about fundamental constitutional principles, including the five that President Oaks identified in his message. The challenge, I believe, is twofold: to share what we have learned with others and then, with them, to do all that we can to ensure that those principles are honored. All people benefit when these constitutional principles are safeguarded to whatever extent they can be in their own countries.
The Constitution of the United States was ratified in 1788 and went into effect the following year, making it the world’s oldest active governing charter. It is impossible to measure its influence on the nearly 800 other constitutions that have been adopted around the world since 1789.2 The reason for that influence, however, is not because of its longevity but because of the inspired principles upon which it is based—principles that emerged piecemeal from human experience with civil government throughout the ages and which have continued to resonate up through our day. These principles recognize the importance of government in protecting an individual’s rights and liberties but seek to restrict government by limiting and dividing its power. Such constraints are necessary because, as founding father James Madison observed, “Power is of an encroaching nature, and … it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it.”3 Constitutional principles, when understood and maintained, establish peaceful parameters around government.
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 provided an opportunity for the first time to combine and commit those principles into a single governing document. What emerged from that convention was not perfect, something even those who helped draft it acknowledged.4 On the final day of the convention, for example, Benjamin Franklin admitted that there were several things about the Constitution of which he disapproved. But given the principles it embraced, he agreed to sign the document and encouraged the other convention delegates to do the same.5
What are those key principles that are important enough to be preserved within a written constitution and that we are to protect and preserve? President Oaks noted several in his recent conference message. They include (1) popular sovereignty, (2) federalism, (3) separation of powers, (4) protection for individual rights and liberties, and (5) equality before the law. All are important separately, but when combined together, they offer the best prospect for both effective government and the fullest expression of individual liberty. Liberty, or the power to choose, has been sought for by men and women throughout all of human history. It is an eternal principle and a key part of Heavenly Father’s plan of salvation for each of His children.
Popular Sovereignty
President Abraham Lincoln offered a concise description of popular sovereignty when he referred to government in his Gettysburg Address as being “of the people, by the people, [and] for the people.”6 The power to govern does not come from military might, a divine mandate, political parties, or because a group simply sets itself up to rule. Popular sovereignty means that government gets its authority from the people it serves, and both the government and the people must recognize this principle in order to safeguard it.
Governments acknowledge popular sovereignty by conducting regular elections where individuals are free to vote for any candidate of their choice. Elected leaders likewise remember that popular sovereignty is vested in all of the people and not in just those who may have voted for them. They actively seek compromises that will benefit the greatest number.
Citizens sustain popular sovereignty by participating in government through voting and by supporting candidates for office who are responsive to their constituents. They also support popular sovereignty by striving to find common ground on important public policy issues with as many different people as possible (since those with contrasting views also possess sovereign authority). Embracing narrow partisan concerns, single issues, or even mob action to impose limited policies or opinions on others violates the principle of popular sovereignty. Those who are fortunate enough to live in countries where this principle exists must be prepared to respect the views of others and work together for the common good.
Federalism
Federalism is the principle of decentralized power. In the United States, the Constitution requires that the governing power delegated by the people under the principle of popular sovereignty be divided between the national government and the states, a feature found in Canada, Mexico, and other countries as well.
Based on their study of governments throughout history, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention knew that governing power tended to become increasingly concentrated. The best protection for the rights and liberties of the people, then, was to divide and separate that power as much as possible. Federalism recognizes that both the national and state governments have certain powers, some unique and others concurrent, and that not all states need to govern in the same way.
National and state governments safeguard the principle of federalism by recognizing the authority of the other and working with each other to craft public policy solutions that may vary from region to region. Individuals can sustain federalism by supporting political candidates and public policies that respect the authority of both the national and state governments and the people they represent.
This principle is weakened when citizens, political parties, lobbying influences, or government leaders seek to further centralize power or offer only one-size-fits-all national solutions for every problem. However, federalism is also undermined by those who insist that a state is independent of any connection to or responsibility for the larger union.
Separation of Powers
Separation of powers is the principle of further dividing power, already separated through federalism, between the different branches of government to prevent an accumulation of influence in any one of them. In addition to specific duties given to the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, the Constitution of the United States also empowers each branch with the means to check the other.
For example, while Congress can pass legislation, the president can veto those bills. The president can nominate cabinet officers, ambassadors, and federal court judges, but the Senate must confirm those individuals in order for those appointments to take effect. Congress can also impeach and remove from office executive branch officers and federal court judges. These and other checks and balances were designed to establish the independence of each branch and to stem the tendency toward centralized power.
The legislative, executive, and judicial branches safeguard this principle by jealously guarding their constitutional responsibilities and checking encroachments by the other branches whenever necessary. Individuals support the separation of powers by voting for leaders who respect the boundaries and the reasons for the divisions between the branches of government. They realize that policy change can take time and that short-circuiting the often-tedious lawmaking process in the legislative branch for a faster resolution by the executive or judicial branches only shifts more power to the latter two. That redirected power, incidentally, is not surrendered back.
That means that when individuals, political parties, lobbying groups, or government officials encourage the collapse of constitutional divisions between the branches for policies that they favor, that same breakdown will inevitably be exploited to bring about other policy changes that they may oppose. It takes tremendous discipline by the legislative, executive, and judicial branches as well as patience on the part of political parties and voters to preserve this vital constitutional principle against those seeking short-term political or electoral gain.
Protection for Individual Rights and Liberties
When the Constitution emerged from the 1787 convention, the document contained no provision protecting people from the new government. Some delegates believed an explicit declaration of guaranteed rights was unnecessary since the grant of power to the newly created government under popular sovereignty could not possibly authorize any infringement upon the rights of the people. Others vehemently disagreed, and sharp debates ensued at the various state conventions to ratify the Constitution.
Eventually, as a condition for ratifying the document, the first Congress under the new government agreed to consider several amendments. The first 10 of these were ratified in 1791 and became known as the Bill of Rights. While initially written to protect people only against the national government, nearly all of these amendments have since been interpreted by the United States Supreme Court to apply against constitutional infringements by state and local governments as well.7
The first rights listed in the first of these amendments pertain to religion. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as those of other religions naturally invoke the importance of the First Amendment’s protection for the free exercise of religion. Religious freedom is a precondition for political freedom.8 History has repeatedly demonstrated that any government that refuses to recognize and protect the dual loyalties of the people it serves—loyalty to one’s God and loyalty to one’s government—will not hesitate to infringe upon other rights as well.
Governments safeguard individual rights and liberties, including religious liberty, by recognizing that they exist and by conscientiously reviewing policies and actions to ensure that they benefit the public without violating the rights of the people. Some rights infringements are necessary, however (for example, wartime restrictions on speech or press), but in those rare circumstances, governments tread just as lightly as possible on rights and liberties and do so for the shortest amount of time possible. This requires both the government’s caution and its commitment as well as vigilance on the part of individuals, political parties, media organizations, and others who interact with the government.
Individuals can safeguard their rights and liberties in three ways:
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They recognize that no right is absolute and without limits. That is why there is no free-speech right to yell “Bomb!” at an airport or a freedom-to-travel right to exceed the speed limit by 40 miles an hour or a religious-freedom right to practice human sacrifice as part of one’s religion. Those who claim that government can never infringe upon a given right risk undermining the same governmental authority that was established to help protect those rights.
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They make every effort to defend the rights of others just as they would their own. Those who would enjoy religious freedom for their own beliefs must be willing to stand up for the religious rights of others. Those who support free speech for their views must protect the right of others to express theirs, even if those views conflict with their own. Government incursions on rights are not neatly delineated, which is why everyone who professes to love their rights and liberties must be willing to stand up for those of others.
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Relatedly, individuals must seek protection for more than just their favored right or liberty. Religious freedom, free speech, or equal protection may be the rights that are of most concern to a person. But to ignore and fail to check government infringement upon other rights invites the dangerous perception that the people really do not mind the loss of rights and liberties so long as those violations happen in other areas and to someone else.
Equality before the Law
This principle declares that our legal standing as individuals, our influence under popular sovereignty, and our voice in our government should not turn on such characteristics as race or gender, wealth or educational status, or support of a particular political party or candidate. We are all equal in the eyes of the law.
Some will rightly question whether this principle is really safeguarded by either government or individuals in our day, but that is one of the key points of President Oaks’s conference message. This as well as the four other constitutional principles discussed need to be understood and can and should be safeguarded. But they will endure only so long as people learn about them and commit to uphold them regardless of governing policies, party preferences, and election outcomes.
“I Established the Constitution of This Land”
The significance of these five principles cannot be overstated, but outside of government teachers and political scientists, their students, and a relatively few others, who else knows or really cares about them? That question is impossible to answer with certainty. However, Latter-day Saints have long been taught the importance of the Constitution and their accompanying responsibility to help maintain its principles as a way to bring to pass the Lord’s work, to serve as an example to governments everywhere, and to enjoy the many blessings of liberty.
In 1833, just three years after the Church was organized, the Lord, in speaking to the Prophet Joseph Smith, declared, “I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I have raised up unto this very purpose” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:80; see also verses 76–79).
Speaking of the signers of the US Constitution and other founders, President Ezra Taft Benson said, “The God of heaven sent some of His choicest spirits to lay the foundation of this government.”
Detail from The Signing of the Constitution of the United States, 1787, by Howard Chandler Christy, GraphicaArtis / Archive Photos / Getty Images
Church leaders since that time have repeatedly underscored the divine inspiration that led to and the divine purpose of the Constitution. Joseph Smith wrote in 1839 that “the Constitution of the United States is a glorious standard; it is founded in the wisdom of God. It is a heavenly banner.”9 President Heber J. Grant (1856–1945), in a general conference talk during World War II, counseled members, “I urge you, I plead with you, never, so far as you have voice or influence, permit any departure from the principles of government on which this nation was founded, or any disregard of the freedoms which, by the inspiration of God our Father, were written into the Constitution of the United States.”10 A few years later, President George Albert Smith (1870–1951) testified that “the giving to us of the Constitution of the United States was not an accident. Our Heavenly Father knew what would be needed, and so he paved the way to give us the Constitution.”11 And during the 1987 bicentennial celebration of the drafting of the Constitution, President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) proclaimed: “God has placed His stamp of approval upon [the Constitution]. I testify that the God of heaven sent some of His choicest spirits to lay the foundation of this government, and He has now sent other choice spirits to help preserve it.”12
History and revelation, as well as political theorists and modern prophets, have affirmed that these principles offer the best opportunity for individual liberty and happiness. No matter where they live, Latter-day Saints can bless the lives of others when they understand, share, and seek to maintain these constitutional principles.