The Great Depression

The Great Depression was a dark time when jobs were scarce and taxes were high. It was a time of uncertainty; no one knew when things would finally turn around. Many have speculated that it was a failure in the free market that caused the Great Depression and that thanks to strong Government interference we made it out. This theory however is wrong.

The Great Depression started during Herbert Hoover’s Presidency. One of the biggest misperceptions is this thought that President Hoover had a laissez-faire economic stance. Hoover however did not have a hands-off economic policy. Hoover passed Smoot-Hawley Tariff in 1930 which greatly raised the tax placed on foreign goods. In turn this new tariff caused all Nations to close their borders to American goods. It started a trade war. This is far from laissez-faire economics. The cause of Hoover’s tariff was that most of the employees working in plants were without jobs. Farmers couldn’t sell their products either. This is one example of how it was not the free market but interference by Government that caused the Depression.

The Second President during the Great Depression was Franklin D. Roosevelt. To further prove the point that it is Government interference in economics that caused and maintained the Great Depression, we can take a look at the effects cause by this second administration. President Roosevelt left off right were Hoover started. He passed massive amounts of legislation which he called the New Deal. Rexford G. Tugwell, a member of Roosevelt’s brain-trust said “practically the whole New Deal was extrapolated from programs that Hoover started”. The New Deal was more Government control on the economy.

What came from this involvement? President Roosevelt called for a “banking holiday”. From March 6 to March 15 banks had to close their doors. After the holiday 5000 banks did not reopen until after the Depression and 2000 of those banks never reopened again. Roosevelt also had unit banking laws passed. Bank failures came only in states where this heavy regulation occurred. In Canada where banks were not being regulated there were no bank failures.

Roosevelt had blanket minimal wages. These minimal wages put thousands of people out of work. The black communities were hit the hardest as unemployment continually went up. The Government started paying farmers not to farm but to burn their crops and slaughter their animals. This was done to try to raise prices that were thrown off due to the devastation left from the Smoot-Hawley Tariff and others like it.

Roosevelt placed heavy taxes on businesses. This made it so jobs could not be created in the private sector. Instead the Federal Government handed out jobs that did not create more jobs or boost the economy. All it did was boost the Federal Government’s debt. The Wagner Act was passed to complete the restrictions on private business owners who could free the economy from its down turn.

  In the end we see that it is the failure of the Federal government and not a free market that caused and prolonged the Great Depression. From the examples given we find that it was the New Deal and the policies of President Hoover that were the predecessors to it, that made it impossible for the economy to rebound from the recession. It was not until after the market was again free that things turned around, proving the true cause of the Great Depression.       

Economic Prosperity

To create a place with economic prosperity certain principles have to be established. Among these principles are property rights, rule of law, markets, free trade, and free press. If we were to create a city in an uninhabited part of the world and were to apply these principles or rules, we would be able to sit back as the economy grew. This is because people will plan their own ways to be successful and it will naturally benefit others. It is through these principles that economic success is found.

Property rights are essential for any economy to grow. In our newly created city protection will be given to property rights. Entrepreneurs are the blood flow to any economy. These are the people who make the risks. They are those who have the vision and the self-interest to create a bigger economic pie for everyone. When a government can take away this property at their leisure no one would be willing to take the risk.

An example of this is Communism or a planned economy. Everything is taken from the individual and given to the government. In this kind of an economic environment little prosperity is produced. No one is comfortable with doing what it takes to create a business. When the government finds that a business is becoming successful they take it from the private owners. It takes property rights to insure entrepreneurs that the fruit of their labor will be theirs. Entrepreneurs left to their own will plan what is best for them by working hard to make a product desirable and beneficial to the public. This concept of everyone benefiting by the self-interest of another is known as the invisible hand.

Rule of law and markets will also be important for our city to be prosperous. The rule of law is the principle that even those who are in the government are not above the law. This is an extra protection of the other rules that we will establish. The rule of law stabilizes the government. It gives protection to the entrepreneurs who can understand all the rights that they have.

A market is an exchange of goods and services. We will need them to remain free if we want our new city to be able to prosper. Free markets encourage new thoughts, resourcefulness, and reason. They also allow for charity which can help to build an economy. Free markets allow us to have competition. It makes it so we use our limited resources wisely. Time is an example of a limited resource. If one is using his time to be a medieval historian, he cannot be a doctor. A free market will force those who want to succeed to put their resources like time into things that all people need.    

Free trade is the next principle that will have to exist in our city. As Leonard E. Read points out not one person knows how to make a pencil. It takes a lot of different people all looking out for their own self-interest to make the pencil. If restrictions are placed on trade, say my city places restrictions on everyone else not of my city, then everyone else will place restrictions the cities goods. This makes less competition and so people waste resources.

The last principle that will need to be in our city to boost economic growth is freedom of press. Press is so important for the advertisement of goods. If there are restrictions on who can advertise or how much one can advertise his goods, then again competition is eliminated. Free press allows for the limited resources going into any good or service to be broadcast to everyone so everyone has a fair opportunity to obtain that good or service. This allows for the market to remain constantly flowing with goods and services for anyone to obtain.

In comparison to a planned economy this new city we created, with all the freedoms which it possesses, will grow immensely. The new city will have the growth that Western Germany had in comparison to Eastern Germany or Hong Kong had in comparison to mainland China. These principles of freedom will ensure the economic growth and prosperity for any city, state, or Nation.

Federalist 51

Federalist 51

Madison, in the Federalist 51, explains the need of a balance when allowing the governed to give power to the government. Madison says “… the great difficulty is this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” Luckily for us the Founding Fathers constructed a Constitution that had a dependence on the people and placed on it auxiliary precautions.

The primary control placed on the government is its dependence on the people. Our government officials are chosen by the people directly or by those already chosen by the people. It is understood in the very beginning of the constitution that it is “we the people” that give the powers to the government. Along with this primary control the Constitution also places other auxiliary controls on the government.

The first auxiliary control mentioned in the Federalist 51 is a written constitution.  The Constitution was written so that it explained all that the Nation Government can do. Whatever is not expressly written in the Constitution is left to the state Governments and the people. The government can then not ignore this law which is written for all to see. A Bill of Rights was added as an extra protection for the rights of the people.

Another control is placed by a Separation of power. Our national government is split into three branches the legislative, the executive and the judicial branches. Each branch has its own duty and does not assume the rule of the other. This allows for many people to hold the control given by the people. The most powerful branch in the eyes of the founding fathers was the Legislative branch so it was split into two houses as an extra precaution against that branch.

Each branch has checks and balances against the other. For example the Legislative Branch passes laws however the President of the United States who is head of the executive branch can veto the bill. This is a check against the Legislative Branch by the Executive branch. However in return the Legislative branch can overturn this veto by a two thirds vote. This allows the government to control itself.

Further our government is split into a National government and State governments. This Division of Power is spelled out in the 10 amendment. Again whatever is not exactly expressed by the constitution as a right of the National government becomes the right of the state governments. This distinction is important because there are some things that just need to be done on the local level. The division of power makes sure that the National Government does not get too powerful.

The last auxiliary precaution is created by having a republic of continental size. Having such a large republic makes many smaller factions as opposed to a few large ones. This makes it so a group cannot rise up and attack another because the many small groups or a combination of a few small groups would not be able to overcome the many other small groups who would band together to defeat  

The Founding Fathers were able to put controls on the government for the safety of the people. These auxiliary precautions were laid out by Madison in Federalist 51 to ease the minds of the people of the United Sates. Today we are still grateful for the inspiration which gave us a government that can control itself. We have a government that is controlled by the people to ensure that we will have justice for years to come.

Our Divine Constitution

Our Divine Constitution

The Constitution was divinely given for the purposes of God to go forth. The men who wrote the Constitution were guided by God through the hard days in which they were to come up with a constitution that would stand the test of time. Their inspiration can be seen within the document itself.

The Founding Fathers were inspired in the methods they used to write the constitution.  They came together with many different backgrounds, ideas and philosophies. They came from small states and big states, and from the south and north. Despite so many differences they came together in a single council under the hand of God. Councils are important because they facilitate revelation and unity. Every man was receiving his own inspiration and contributed to the whole. They were writing and revising and trying to compromise. Compromise is another way how the Constitution was divinely written. A couple of plans came forward, the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan. The small states supported the New Jersey Plan which wanted a legislature with the same amount of representatives for each state. The larger states and those who supported the Virginia wanted the legislature to be picked by population. The Founding Father compromised by making the two house legislature where the upper house was done uniformly and the lower house was done by population. This shows the power of councils and compromise and how they were divine tools used for the writing of the Constitution.

We see that the process of how the constitution was written was divinely guided but what about the Constitution itself was inspired of God? The constitution had a Bill of Rights which acted as extra safety precaution for the people of the United States.  The Bill of Rights is a list of “do not’s” for the federal government to insure the rights of the people. Also to make sure the Government didn’t get to strong the Founding Fathers made a system of checks and balances between the three branches of government. Not only did they divide the powers between the three branches of the federal government but also divided power between the federal government and the states. The Founding Fathers were then inspired by making the new government “for the people by the people of the people”. The power of the government came directly from the people. The people “ordained and established” the constitution. They made it expressly clear that Government is for the people and not the other way around. All these things were set forth to help enforce rule of law. This made it so no public officer was above the constitution.

The Lord stated in Doctrine and Covenants section 101 Verse 80 that He established the constitution by the hand of wise men who He raised up for such a purpose. The constitution and how it was written were divinely inspired of God. There would be no other way that it would be so successful in doing all it has done.    

Moral Justifications

Moral Justifications

                The American Revolution was not started by an illogically thinking mob of colonist but was constructed by a moral people who were justified by God. To understand what made the Founding Fathers and the colonies morally justified in their independence we have to take a look at what it is that a government such as Great Britain’s, is suppose to do for its citizens. Then we must understand how Britain was infringing on what they had no right to infringe on. Lastly we will see how the colonists clearly stated their wrongs and sought for redress.

            Why is it that people want a government? The answer can be given by looking at the reasons for government. In a talk by Ezra T. Benson, The Proper Role of Government, Benson claims that government is created to protect the rights of its citizens. We all have rights because we are God’s children. Even without an established government all mankind has the right to life, liberty, and property. They are inherent to life. We call these Natural Rights. The Government can only exercise power granted them by the governed. “This means, then, that the proper function of government is limited only to those spheres of activity within which the individual citizen has the right to act” (Benson). Great Britain infringed upon the Natural Rights of the colonies and did that which was unjust to do. Though Ezra T. Benson came much later the Founding Fathers understood their Natural Rights.

            All men have the right of life. No man should be able to take the life of another unless he does so for the protection of his own rights. In 1770 the British troops that were placed in Boston had a tough time keeping the frustrated colonists under control. Tension was high and the Colonists were tired of British abuses. The colonists in their anger threw snow balls at the British troops. In response the British troops opened fire on the colonists. Three colonists died and many others were wounded. The British troops had taken life from the protesters. There was no justification for that response. The fact that the British troops were there in the first place was a threat against the lives of the colonists.

The liberties of the colonists were also taken. Since arriving in the America’s the pilgrims had their own colonial governments. The British disbanded the Assemblies and even revoke some of the charters of the colonies. The Coercive Acts brought Massachusetts government under royal rule. Also as part of the Coercive act the Administration of Justice Act was passed which stated that royal officials no longer had to be tried in the colonies but brought back to Britain. This act aloud for the royal offices to stomp on the liberties of the colonists in any way they wanted to without the fear of having to stand trial by them.  Instead they were tried by friends of the King George the III. Another act that was passed was the Declaratory Act. This stated that Parliament had the right to tax the colonies in any way they wished. This was completely against the precedence previously established by previous kings. The colonists had always held to the fact that they could not be taxed without representation. Anything otherwise would be taken without the consent of the governed.

The Third natural Right, the right to own Property, was attacked through many attempts to tax the colonies. The Sugar Act, Stamp Act, and Townsend Act were all passed to try to pay off the debt incurred by Britain from the French War. They felt that the colonies should help to pay off these debts. The colonists helped to fight in the war and felt they did their duty. They had given their lives and property to help the Mother Land. To be taxed again and without the approval of their legislator was nothing but theft by Parliament. It took away the hard earned property of the colonists. The opposition wasn’t so much that the colonists didn’t want to help because they still felt that they were British subjects but what bothered them was how the British put the responsibility solely on the colonies. The Stamp Act made any document without a stamp illegal. This means all the political papers, newspapers and other documents had a direct tax. This again went against precedence. The colonists were outraged.

            In response to these wrongs the Founding Fathers kept great composure. They tried to fix the problems between their colonies and Britain. Samuel Adams, one of our Founding Fathers, got the people of Boston to Boycott British goods as a peaceful way to oppose the injustices. Adams then sent out a circulatory letter and helped create committees of correspondence to unite the colonies and show the British that they were all together in the boycotts and protests. They supported groups like the Sons of Liberty, a political organization, which was made to protest acts such as the Stamp Act. They did so without getting out of control. In some cases action had to be taken like the Boston Tea Party for instance. A group of Colonists dressed as Indians dumped creates of tea into the Boston Harbor. Even this however was done with cool, calculated thought as opposed to mob chaos.

            The Founding Fathers met in Congressional Conventions where they repeatedly wrote to the King and Parliament trying to resolve differences. One such writing was the Olive Branch Petition, written by Thomas Jefferson, which stated that the colonist were still loyal to the crown but would fight for their rights.

John Dickinson in his Letters from a Farmer stated the Founding Fathers efforts best. Dickinson believed first in petitioning, then in boycotts and then with less peaceful mean while keeping dignity. The Founding Fathers made all such attempts in their quest to protect their rights. The British leaders however did not understand the Rule of Law.

The Rule of Law is that not even the leaders of the government are above the law. Parliament and King George the III placed themselves above the laws of the colonists and above the constitution. They thought they could take the rights guaranteed by the British Constitution from the colonists.

The Founding Fathers and the colonists where continually abused. Their Government was trampling their Natural Rights. In response those noble men petitioned, boycotted, and did all that was in their means to fix the problems. The Crown and Parliament thought it above the laws that should have protected the colonists. All this is shows how the Founding Fathers and the colonies were justified in declaring their independence from a government who misused the powers given it.                   

Works cited

The Proper role of Government, Ezra Taft Benson, Published in 1968.