The Constitution of the United States of America forms the legal foundation of the United States of America and the federal government. It describes three main branches of government: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial.
The Constitution was adopted at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 and by 1789 was ratified by each of the thirteen states. At present, it has 27 amendments; the first ten known as the Bill of Rights.
Revelations about the Constitution
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints attach a special significance to the Constitution of the United States of America. While the Church was suffering persecution in Missouri in August 1833, a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith declared:
VERILY I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks; Waiting patiently on the Lord, for your prayers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded with this seal and testament—the Lord hath sworn and decreed that they shall be granted. Therefore, he giveth this promise unto you, with an immutable covenant that they shall be fulfilled; and all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good, and to my name’s glory, saith the Lord. And now, verily I say unto you concerning the laws of the land, it is my will that my people should observe to do all things whatsoever I command them. And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me. Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land; And as pertaining to law of man, whatsoever is more or less than this, cometh of evil. I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free. Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn. Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil. (D&C 98:1-10).
A few months later, the Lord declared in another revelation:
And again I say unto you, those who have been scattered by their enemies, it is my will that they should continue to importune for redress, and redemption, by the hands of those who are placed as rulers and are in authority over you—According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles; That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment. Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another. And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood. (D&C 101:76-80).
These revelations teach that:
- The Constitution was an inspired document to ensure the rights and privileges of American citizens to individual freedom and liberty.
- Moral agency, or the right of individuals to choose good or evil, is a fundamental purpose of the Constitution.
- Wise men were raised up by the Lord to create the Constitution.
The Constitution – An Inspired Document
Heber J. Grant referred to the Constitution as a “heavenly banner” that is “founded in the wisdom of God”:
From my childhood days I have understood that we believe absolutely that the Constitution of our country is an inspired instrument, and that God directed those who created it and those who defended the independence of this nation. Concerning this matter it is my frequent pleasure to quote the statement by Joseph Smith, regarding the Constitution:
The Constitution of the United States is a glorious standard; it is founded in the wisdom of God. It is a heavenly banner; it is, to all those who are privileged with the sweets of liberty, like the cooling shades and refreshing waters of a great rock in a weary and thirsty land. It is like a great tree under whose branches men from every clime can be shielded from the burning rays of the sun. (DHC-3:304)
And such the Constitution of the United States must be to every faithful Latter-day Saint who lives under its protection.
We honor the man that God honors. We honor Abraham Lincoln because we believe absolutely that God honored him and raised him up to be the instrument in His hands of saving the Constitution and the Union.
George Albert Smith explained that the Constitution is the “Palladian of human rights” and should be preserved from those who seek to replace it with another form of government:
I want to raise my voice to you and say, our Heavenly Father raised up the very men that framed the Constitution of the United States. He said He did. He gave to us the greatest Palladian of human rights that the world knows anything about, the only system whereby people could worship God according to the dictates of their consciences without, in any way, being molested when the law, itself, was in effect . . . . Yet, we have people who would like to change that and bring some of those forms of government that have failed absolutely to make peace and happiness and comfort any other place in the world, and exchange what God has given to us—the fullness of the earth and the riches of liberty and happiness. Yet, there are those who go around whispering and talking and saying, “Let us change this thing.”
I am saying to you that to me the Constitution of the United States of America is just as much from my Heavenly Father as the Ten Commandments. When that is my feeling, I am not going to go very far away from the Constitution, and I am going to try to keep it where the Lord started it.
Constitutional Law Preserves Moral Agency
Another aspect of these revelations is that under this distinctly American Form of Government, men and women are able “to progress towards eternal life in part by exposing them to the consequences, good or bad, of their choices.” David O. McKay taught the importance of preserving moral agency under the auspices of the Constitution:
Next to the bestowal of life itself, the right to direct that life is God’s greatest gift to man. One of the most urgent needs today is the preservation of individual liberty. Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession earth can give. It is inherent in the spirit of man. It is a divine gift to every normal being. Whether born in abject poverty or shackled at birth by inherited riches, everyone has this most precious of all life’s endowments—the gift of free agency—man’s inherited and inalienable right.
Free agency is the impelling source of the soul’s progress. It is the purpose of the Lord that man become like him. In order for man to achieve this it was necessary for the Creator first to make him free. “Personal liberty,” says Bulwer-Lytton, “is the paramount essential to human dignity and human happiness.”
References in the scriptures show that this principle of free agency is essential to man’s salvation; and may become a measuring rod by which the actions of men, of organizations, and of nations may be judged.
I do not know that there was ever a time in the history of mankind when the evil one seemed so determined to strike at this fundamental virtue of free agency.
I am not one of those who see in the world catastrophes the hand of God as their cause. I do not believe that God has caused the misery in the world today. I do believe that the conditions of the world today are a direct result—an inevitable result—of disobedience to God’s laws.
With free agency there comes responsibility. If man is to be rewarded for righteousness and punished for evil, then common justice demands that he be given the power of independent action. A knowledge of good and evil is essential to man’s progress on earth. If he were coerced to do right at all times, or were helplessly enticed to commit sin, he would merit neither a blessing for the first nor a punishment for the second. Man’s responsibility is correspondingly operative with his free agency. Actions in harmony with divine law and the laws of nature will bring happiness, and those in opposition to divine truth, misery. Man is responsible not only for every deed, but also for every idle word and thought.
Freedom of the will and the responsibility associated with it are fundamental aspects of Jesus’ teachings. Throughout his ministry he emphasized the worth of the individual and exemplified what is now expressed in modern revelation as “his work and his glory.” (See Moses 1:39) Only through the divine gift of soul freedom is such progress possible.
Force, on the other hand, emanates from Lucifer himself. Even in man’s pre-existent state, Satan sought power to compel the human family to do his will by suggesting that the free agency of man be inoperative. If his plan had been accepted, human beings would have become mere puppets in the hands of a dictator, and the purpose of man’s coming to earth would have been frustrated. Satan’s proposed system of government, therefore, was rejected, and the principle of free agency established in its place.
There is another responsibility correlated and even coexistent with free agency, which is too infrequently emphasized, and that is the effect not only of a person’s actions, but also of his thoughts.
Man radiates what he is, and that radiation affects to a greater or less degree every person who comes within that radiation.
Force rules the world today. Individual freedom is threatened by international rivalries and false political ideals. Unwise legislation, too often prompted by political expediency, if enacted, will seductively undermine man’s right of free agency, rob him of his rightful liberties, and make him but a cog in the crushing wheel of regimentation.
It is well ever to keep in mind the fact that the state exists for the individual; not the individual for the state. Any form of government that destroys or undermines the free exercise of free agency is wrong. Liberty becomes then license, and the man a transgressor. It is the function of the state to curtail the violator and to protect the violated.
God is standing in the shadow of eternity, it seems to me, deploring the inevitable results of the follies, the transgressions, and the sins of his wayward children, but we cannot blame him for these any more than we can blame a father who might say to his son:
There are two roads, my son, one leading to the right, one leading to the left. If you take the one to the right, it will lead you to success and to happiness. If you take the one to the left, it will bring upon you misery and unhappiness and perhaps death, but you choose which you will. You must choose; I will not force either upon you . . . .
The power of choice is within you—the roads are clearly marked. In making the choice, may God give you clear-seeing, strong wills, courageous hearts!
Wise Men Established the Constitution
According to the revelations cited above, the Lord established the U. S. Constitution by “wise men whom [He] raised up unto this very purpose”. In this regard, Ezra Taft Benson, former U. S. Secretary of Agriculture said:
Who were these delegates, those whom the Lord designated “wise men” whom he raised up? They were mostly young men in the prime of their life, their average age being forty-four. Benjamin Franklin was the eldest at eighty-one. George Washington, the presiding officer at the convention, was fifty-five. Alexander Hamilton was only thirty-two; James Madison, who recorded the proceedings of the convention with his remarkable Notes, was only thirty-six. These were young men, but men of exceptional character, “sober, seasoned, distinguished men of affairs, drawn from various walks of life.” (J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Stand Fast by Our Constitution, Deseret Book Co., 1965, p. 135.)
Of the thirty-nine signers, twenty-one of them were educated in the leading American colleges and in Great Britain; eighteen were, or had been, lawyers or judges; twenty-six had seen service in the Continental Co; twenty-six had seen service in the Continental Congress; nineteen had served in the Revolutionary army, seventeen as officers. Four had been on Washington’s personal staff during the war. Among that assembly of the thirty-nine signers were to be found two future presidents of the United States, one the “Father of his Country”; a vice- president of the United States; a secretary of the treasury; a secretary of war; a secretary of state; two chief justices of the Supreme Court, and three who served as justices; and the venerable Franklin, a diplomat, philosopher, scientist, and statesman.
“They were not backwoodsmen from far-off frontiers, not one of them . . . There has not been another such group of men in all [the 200 years of our history] that even challenged the supremacy of this group.” (J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Reports, April 1957, p. 47.) President Wilford Woodruff said they “were the best spirits the God of heaven could find on the face of the earth. They were choice spirits. . . .” (Wilford Woodruff, CR, April 1898, p. 89; italics added.)
Constitutional Separation of Powers
A fundamental aspect of the Constitution is the separation of powers under which the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government are kept distinct, to prevent abuse of power. This is sometimes known as “checks and balances.” J. Reuben Clark, Jr., former Under Secretary of State for President Calvin Coolidge, wrote:
The Framers, in the Government they provided for, separated the three functions of government, and set each of them up as a separate branch—the legislative, the executive and the judicial. Each was wholly independent of the other. No one of them might encroach upon the other. No one of them might delegate its power to another.
Yet by the Constitution, the different branches were bound together, unified into an efficient, operating whole. These branches stood together, supported one another. While severally independent, they were at the same time, mutually dependent. It is this union of independence and dependence of these branches—legislative, executive and judicial—and of the governmental functions possessed by each of them, that constitutes the marvelous genius of this unrivalled document. The Framers had no direct guide in this work, no historical governmental precedent upon which to rely. As I see it, it was here that the divine inspiration came. It was truly a miracle.
The people, not an Emperor or a small group, were to make the laws through their representatives chosen by them. To make sure the representatives did not get out of hand, they were elected for short terms of office. The people could, at short intervals, displace unsatisfactory representatives and elect others to take their places. The will of the people, not the will of an Emperor, was to control.
Furthermore, the people specified in the great document, the matters about which their representatives could make laws. The sovereign power was in the people, and the legislative branch could go only so far as they authorized. They lodged in the Congress the sole power to make laws about the matters they entrusted to them, and none others. This is basic, elemental. There is a tendency to overlook it. [See Article I, Sec. 1, of Constitution.]
As already stated, the whole residuum of legislative power rested in the sovereign people, and the Congress could not enter that reserved domain without express authorization from the people. This is the principle that operates to declare a law unconstitutional. We, the people, have all this power in our hands, if we but exercise it . . . .
The Convention (Washington was its president) provided for the election by the people of their chief executive—a President—for a limited term. Under the influence of Washington’s lofty patriotism, they failed to think it necessary to provide limitations upon re-election. But, mindful of the lessons of history, the Convention, representing the people, bestowed upon their President certain specific powers, only. He had none they did not bestow. They bestowed upon the chief executive all the executive powers they gave to anybody. Here, also, all the residuum executive powers were retained by the sovereign people. If the executive is lawfully to exercise any further powers, these powers must be bestowed by the people. The President is not a sovereign emperor, yet in the executive department is lodged all the executive power, which, by the Constitution, the people gave up to government.
As a check upon the legislative branch, the people, under the Constitution, gave the chief executive certain limited legislative functions; he reports the needs of the country to Congress, he can recommend legislation, he can veto bills of Congress, but Congress can pass these bills over his veto.
That the President might not acquire too much power in his executing of the laws, the people imposed certain limitations upon his powers of appointment to office by providing that the Senate must advise and consent to certain of the more important appointments.
To the same point of further checking the executive power, in legislative matters, the people provided, through their representatives at the Convention, certain restrictions to his conduct of foreign affairs, by providing that treaties must be ratified by the Senate. Moreover, our diplomatic representatives can be properly appointed only by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
Thus, while the President is given certain powers with respect to the enactment of legislation, the Congress is given certain powers with respect to the administration of the government. These arrangements are sometimes spoken of as checks and balances, and if they are observed, they prevent any encroachment by one branch of the government against another, or upon the rights and privileges which the people reserve to themselves.
The people, through their representatives at the Convention, provided for a judiciary which was to judge the laws, to determine, first, whether the laws were in agreement with or in derogation of the powers conferred upon the federal government, and, second, to determine the respective rights of litigants under the law. All the judicial powers of the government were to be exercised by the courts.
Here, also, safeguards were provided. The President nominates the various judicial officers, but the Senate must advise and consent to their appointment. The legislative branch and the executive branch cooperate in the setting up of the judiciary, which, however, once created, acts independently of either of the others.
There is no provision in the Constitution giving general authority to either branch to function in the field of the other, except as specifically provided; nor is either branch (except as specifically provided otherwise) to delegate any of its powers to the other. These two principles are elemental. So long as these principles are observed, our liberties and our free institutions are secure, and no despotism can be set up amongst us.
Secret Combinations – A Prophetic Warning
A unique characteristic of the revelations cited at the beginning of this article are the warnings:
- “Whatsoever is more or less than [the constitutional law of man], cometh of evil”.
- “Honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil.”
These are important considerations. In 1840, the Prophet Joseph Smith warned that one day the United States Constitution would be in danger of being overthrown. In 1881, John Taylor, a close associate of the Prophet and third president of the Church, explained:
I am sorry to see this murderous influence prevailing throughout the world, and perhaps this may be a fitting occasion to refer to some of these matters. The manifestations of turbulence and uneasiness which prevail among the nations of the earth are truly lamentable . . . . These feelings which tend to do away with all right, rule, and government, and correct principles are not from God, or many of them are not. This feeling of communism and nihilism, aimed at the overthrow of rulers and men in position and authority, arises from a spirit of diabolism, which is contrary to every principle of the Gospel of the Son of God . . . .
These things are beginning to spread among and permeate the nations of the earth. Do we expect them? Yes. These secret combinations were spoken of by Joseph Smith, years and years ago. I have heard him time and time again tell about them, and he stated that when these things began to take place the liberties of this nation would begin to be bartered away.
While “Latter-day Saints are committed to sustaining constitutional government as the best instrument for maintaining peace, individual freedom, and community life in modern society”, successors of the Prophet Joseph Smith have frequently warned about the insidious effects of secret combinations seeking the overthrow of free governments.
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From a religious perspective, socialism is of interest to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because it bears some similarities with various attempts by the Church to implement the “law of consecration”. For example,
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