The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-15


ing their just powers from the consent of
the governed" he was intent solely on
making a strong case against George III
That the colonists did not regard it as a
principle of government is shown by the
fact that they submitted to British rule
| cheerfully for more than hundred years
| before they discovered that the consent of
the governed was necessary. Even then
they based their separation not on the fact
that their consent had not been asked, but
that British rule had become tyrannical and
intolerable. Jefferson himself based the
| right of independence mainly on the fact
that British rule had become insufferable
He did not claim that British government
| of the colonies was founded on a wrong
| principle, but that it had become tyrannical
and oppressive. The same paragraph of the
Declaration which says that governments
derive their just powers from the consent
of the governed admits that men should not
rebel against established government with
out good cause, adding: But when a long
train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing
invariably the same object, evinces a de-
| sign to reduce them Under absolute despot-
ISM it is their right, it is their duty to
throw off such government and to provide
new guards for their future security" This
bases the Declaration of Independence not
on the fact that the British government
was without the consent of the people. but
that it had become despotic and insuffer-
able.
That Jefferson's rhetorical flourish about
the consent Of the governed was not re-
garded as q principle of government is
shown by the fact that it was not incor-
porated either in the Articles of Confedera-
ton adopted a year after the Declaration
or in the Constitution, framed eleven years
later A people who had driven the Indians
out Of thirteen States, as their posterity
have out of thirty more, and who held the
black race as slaves were not likely to
stultify themselves by declaring in their
Constitution that governments derive their
just powers from the consent of the gov
erned. On the contrary, the Constitution
excluded all Indians and two-fifths of the
negro slaves from enumeration in the APP
portionment of representatives and per-
mtted all the States to exclude slaves from
and still exclude from participation in the
government all women, men under twenty
one years of age and alien residents who
have not become naturalized All these are
governed without their consent. The pa
triots of the revolutionary period did not
ask the consent of the loyalists to the
Declaration of independence, nor was it
submitted IN tho Yanu1a for rotifcotiOo II
is by no means certain that on a fair vote
it would have been adopted. 1t certainly
would not have been adopted on a vote of
the property owners and taxpayers of that
period The patriots who signed the decla-
ration that governments derive their Just
powers from the consent of the governed
proposed to cram it down the threats of
the loyalists whether they liked it or not
They did so, and afterwards drove the loyal
lists out of the country, still without asking
their consent. From that time till the civil
war we continued to govern the negroes
without their consent We are still govern
ing the Indians without their consent We
established government over the people of
Florida, the people of Louisiana Territory
and the people of New Mexico and Cali
fornia without their consent. By the civil
war we established our government over the
people of. eleven States who fought against
it four years. The Southern people were
not asked to ratify the surrender of Lee by
popular vote.
The truth is, consent Of the governed is
neither a principle of government nor an
axiom of practical craftsmanship. The
basic principle of government is national
sovereignty, and that implies the exercise
of all the force necessary to the maintenance
of national authority and the execution of
national purposes. There is not a single ma
ton on earth that would not fall into dis
solution if its government should cease to
exercise the authority and enforce the sub
mission requisite to obedience The most
important and the most vital powers of gov
eminent are those which are exercised with
out the consent of the governed. Having
conquered the Philippine islands we may do
what we please with them and with the
Filipinos without asking the consent of the
10 tfar