The 28 Great Ideas

That Changed The

World From “The 5,000 Year Leap”
By W.Cleon Skousen
The Founders' Common
Denominator of Basic
One of the most amazing aspects of the
Beliefs
American story is that while the nation's
founders came from widely divergent
backgrounds, their fundamental beliefs were
virtually identical. They quarreled bitterly over
the most practical plan of implementing those
beliefs, but rarely, if ever, disputed about
their final objectives or basic convictions.
The Founders' Common
Denominator of Basic
Although
Beliefs thecont..
level of their formal training
varied from spasmodic doses of home tutoring
to the rigorous regimen of Harvard's classical
studies, the debates in the Constitutional
Convention and the writings of the Founders
reflect a far broader knowledge of religious,
political, historical, economic, and
philosophical studies than would be found in
any cross-section of American leaders today.
Fundamental Principles

The relative uniformity of fundamental

thought shared by these men included strong
and unusually well-defined convictions
concerning religious principles, political
precepts, economic fundamentals, and long-
range social goals. On particulars, of course,
they quarreled, but when discussing
fundamental precepts and ultimate objectives
they seemed practically unanimous.
Fundamental Principles
cont…
We will now proceed to carefully examine the
28 major principles on which the American
Founders established the first free people in
modern times. These are great ideas which
provided the intellectual, political, and
economic climate for the 5,000-year leap.
Idea #1
The only reliable basis for sound government
and just human relations is Natural Law.
"As one and the same Nature holds together and
supports the universe, all of whose parts are in
harmony with one another, so men are united in
Nature; but by reason of their depravity they
quarrel, not realizing that they are of one blood and
subject to one and the same protecting power. If
this fact were understood, surely man would live the
life of the gods!“ Cicero
Idea #1 cont…

To Cicero, the building of a society on

principles of Natural Law was nothing more
nor less than recognizing and identifying the
rules of "right conduct" with the laws of the
Supreme Creator of the universe.
The Law of Nature or Nature's God is eternal
in its basic goodness; it is universal in its
application. It is a code of "right reason" from
the Creator himself. It cannot be altered. It
cannot be repealed. It cannot be abandoned
by legislators or the people themselves, even
though they may pretend to do so. In Natural
Law we are dealing with factors of absolute
Idea #2
A free people cannot survive under a
republican constitution unless they remain
virtuous and morally strong.
Benjamin Franklin wrote: "Only a virtuous people
are capable of freedom. As nations become
corrupt and vicious, they have more need of
masters.“
The people had an instinctive thirst for
independence, but there remained a haunting
fear that they might not be "good enough" to
make it work.
Idea #2 cont…

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral

and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to
the government of any other.“ John Adams
A Warning from Samuel
Adams
Samuel Adams, who is sometimes called the
"father of the revolution," wrote to Richard
Henry Lee:
"I thank God that I have lived to see my
country independent and free. She may long
enjoy her independence and freedom if she
will. It depends on her virtue."
Samuel Adams wrote:
"The sum of all is, if we would most truly
enjoy the gift of Heaven, let us become a
virtuous people; then shall we both deserve
and enjoy it. while, on the other hand, if we
Idea #3

The most promising method of securing

a virtuous and morally stable people is
to elect virtuous leaders.
A favorite scripture of the day was Proverbs
29:2, which says: "When the righteous are in
authority, the people rejoice; but when the
wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.“
“I never engaged in public affairs for my own
interest, pleasure, envy, jealousy, avarice, or
ambition, or even the desire of fame. If any of
these had been my motive, my conduct would
have been very different. In every
Idea #4

Without religion the government of a

free people cannot be maintained.
President George Washington from his
Farewell Address: "Of all the dispositions and
habits which lead to political prosperity,
religion and morality are indispensable
supports.... And let us with caution indulge
the supposition that morality can be
maintained without religion ... Reason and
experience both forbid us to expect that
national morality can prevail to the exclusion
of religious principle. It is substantially true
that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of
Idea #5

All things were created by God,

therefore upon Him all mankind are
equally dependent, and to Him they are
equally responsible.
The Founders vigorously affirm throughout
their writings that the foundation of all reality
is the existence of the Creator, who is the
designer of all things in nature and the
promulgator of all the laws which govern
nature.
Idea #6

All men are created equal.

The Founders wrote in the Declaration of
Independence that some truths are self-
evident, and one of these is the fact that all
men are created equal.
Since people are different they can only be
treated as equals in the sight of God, in the
sight of the law, and in the protection of their
rights.
Idea #6 cont…

The Founders distinguished between equal

rights and other areas where equality is
impossible. They recognized that society
should seek to provide equal opportunity but
not expect equal results; provide equal
freedom but not expect equal capacity;
provide equal rights but not equal
possessions; provide equal protection but not
equal status; provide equal educational
opportunities but not equal grades.
As Alexander Hamilton said: "Inequality would
exist as long as liberty existed.... It would
unavoidably result from that very liberty
Idea #7
The proper role of government is to protect
equal rights, not provide equal things.
The Founders recognized that the people cannot
delegate to their government the power to do
anything except that which they have the lawful
right to do themselves.
By excluding the national government from
intervening in the local affairs of the people, the
Founders felt they were protecting the
unalienable rights of the people from abuse by an
over-aggressive government.
Idea #8

Men are endowed by their Creator with

certain unalienable rights.
The Founders did not believe that the basic
rights of mankind originated from any social
compact, king, emperor, or governmental
authority. Those rights, they believed, came
directly and exclusively from God.
John Adams said: "All men are born free and
independent, and have certain natural,
essential, and unalienable rights, among
which may be reckoned the right of enjoying
and defending their lives and liberties; that of
 "The state of Nature has a law of
Nature to govern it, which ...
teaches all mankind who will but
consult it, that being all equal and
independent, no one ought to harm
another in his life, health, liberty or
possessions; for men being all the
workmanship of one omnipotent
and infinitely
Idea #8 Cont… wise maker; all the
servants of one sovereign master,
sent into the world by His order
and about His business; they are
Idea #9
To protect man's rights, God has revealed
certain principles of divine law.
Blackstone said it was necessary for God to
disclose these laws to man by direct revelation:
"The doctrines thus delivered we call the
revealed or divine law, and they are to be found
only in the Holy Scriptures. These precepts,
when revealed, are found upon comparison to
be really a part of the original law of nature, as
they tend in all their consequences to man's
felicity."
Idea #9 Cont…

An analysis of the essential elements of God's

code of divine law reveals that it is designed
to promote, preserve, and protect man's
unalienable rights.
These principles will be immediately
recognized as the famous Ten
Commandments. There are many additional
laws set forth in the Bible which clarify and
define these principles
Idea #10

The God-given right to govern is vested in the

sovereign authority of the whole people.
The Founders subscribed to the concept that
rulers are servants of the people and all
sovereign authority to appoint or remove a
ruler rests with the people.
Alexander Hamilton declared: "The fabric of
American empire ought to rest on the solid
basis of the consent of the people. The
streams of national power ought to flow
immediately from that pure, original fountain
of all legitimate authority.“
Idea #10 cont…

James Madison declared: "The adversaries of

the Constitution seem to have lost sight of the
people altogether in their reasonings on this
subject; and to have viewed these different
establishments not only as mutual rivals and
enemies, but as uncontrolled by any common
superior in their efforts to usurp the
authorities of each other. These gentlemen
must here be reminded of their error. They
must be told that the ultimate authority,
wherever the derivative may be found, resides
in the people alone."
Idea #11

The majority of the people may alter or

abolish a government which has become
tyrannical.
"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
governments long established should not be
changed for light and transient causes; and,
accordingly, all experience has shown, that
mankind are more disposed to suffer, while
evils are sufferable, than to right themselves
by abolishing the forms to which they are
accustomed. "But, when a long train of
abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably
the same object, evinces a design to reduce
Idea #12

The United States of America shall be a

republic.
This principle is highlighted in the pledge of
allegiance when it says:
I pledge allegiance to the flag
Of the United States of America
And to the Republic
For which it [the flag] stands....
Idea #12 cont…
Democracy
spectacles of turbulence and
contention
incompatible with personal
security or the rights of
property
short in their lives as they
have been violent in their
deaths
Republic
a government in which the
scheme of representation
takes place
promises the cure for which
we are seeking
extended over a large region

James Madison A Contrast

Idea #13
A constitution should be structured to
permanently protect the people from the
human frailties of their rulers.
At the Constitutional Convention, the Founding
Fathers were concerned with the one tantalizing
question which no political scientist in any age
had yet been able to answer with complete
satisfaction. The question was, "How can you
have an efficient government but still protect
the freedom and unalienable rights of the
people?"
Idea #14
Life and liberty are secure only so long as the
right to property is secure.
John Locke pointed out that the human family
originally received the planet earth as a common
gift and that mankind was given the capacity and
responsibility to improve it. Said he:
"God, who hath given the world to men in
common, hath also given them reason to make
use of it to the best advantage of life and
convenience."