The United States Constitution should be understood as the supreme law of the Union, surpassing all laws passed by Federal, State and Municipal governments. The document outlines what is to be expected of the American people as members of this Union of States. The Constitution was intended by the Federalists to address the flaws of the Articles of Confederation and America’s political-economic arrangements after the Revolutionary War. Prior to the Constitution, America lacked the necessary capabilities to govern what were in practice thirteen States acting like independent nations. It is highly ironic, given the full title of that document: the “Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.”
On Perpetual Union
The transitory period between the Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution deserves ample scrutiny for any American, especially adhering to any Ideology that is not Neoliberalism. The “Perpetual Union” refers to the idea that America was always intended to be a Union of States, a “United States.” Every State that considers itself a member of the Union will always be a member of the Union, regardless of who happens to be in power. While the idea can be traced back to the determination of the original Thirteen Colonies to band together in 1774 under the Articles of Association, it was the Articles of Confederation that gave it a legal basis.
From a metaphysical level, the Perpetual Union harkens back to the origins of America. As established originally in the Second Edition of The Work-Standard and reaffirmed here, America represents an interesting synthesis of British and German (or more specifically, English and Prussian) ideas, values, beliefs, and concepts that inform the American National Consciousness.
The American National Consciousness is molded by the psychological and psychic existences of an “American National Essence,” an “American National Identity,” and an “American National Culture.” The National Essence is what binds contemporary Americans to the Perpetual Union, its existence predating them and continuing for as long as they themselves exist as part of a Totality. It provides them with a shared sense of National Identity that is informed by their National Culture. The National Identity and the National Culture are what constitute the Americaness of the Perpetual Union, setting it apart from Great Britain and the German Reich. With regard to the British and the Germans, the American concept of the Perpetual Union finds its parallels in the English-speaking world and German-speaking world. In the English-speaking world, it is the idea of a Britain superseding England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. In the German-speaking world, it is the idea of a Reich superseding Prussia and Austria.
Although the Articles of Confederation legally recognized the existence of the Perpetual Union, the Federalists never bothered to include it in the Constitution. It is an important omission in light of the American Civil War and the so-called “Culture Wars.” The absence implies that neither the Constitution nor the Articles of Confederation should be the definitive source of any American National Culture. It can be the sources of National Identity and National Essence, however, but not the actual source of a National Culture. Thus, any American National Culture has to be the creation of the American people and the Federal government.
The omission also speaks to the sort of Worldviews that contributed to America becoming its own nation, its own Perpetual Union independent of the British and German ones. It suggests that, if America was not founded by the Liberal Worldview, it had to have also been founded by a coinciding Nationalist Worldview. That the Americans who opposed the British Crown were either “Patriots” or “Whigs,” Nationalists or Liberals, but never both at the same time. And while some Americans were influenced by the Liberal Worldview emanating from England, others were motivated by their belief that America is its own nation with its own Destiny.
Overview of the Constitution
The Constitution can be split into three segments, each designed to support each other’s aims. The first is the Preamble, the second is the seven Articles, and the third is the Amendments.
The Preamble proclaims the Constitution’s intended purposes of the Federal government for wielding the Intents of Command and Obedience. Seven articles establish the basic functions of the Federal government as well as its Constitutional Intents and Obligations.
In Article I, the legislative powers of the Federal government are maintained by the Congress. The formation of Congress can be deduced based on whether “America” the Constitution presides over is either Hamiltonian America or Jeffersonian America. The former envisages a “Congress of Councils,” the latter a “Congress of Parliaments.”
In Article II, the executive powers of the Federal government are wielded by the Presidency. The President, the Cabinet and the “Natural Aristocracy” are situated in this branch. The Natural Aristocracy is the Federalists’ description of the Federal Bureaucracy, which is to say that the only most devoted and committed Americans should be the ones in charge of the Federal government’s day-to-day affairs.
In Article III, the judicial powers of the Federal government are held by the Judiciary. It consists of the Federal courts above the State and Municipal courts, capped by the Supreme Court. As the highest court in the Union, the Supreme Court also has the power to decide how the Constitution is supposed to be interpreted and why through its own decisions in a given case.
In Article IV, the idea of American Federalism is introduced within the social relations of the Federal government and the State and Municipal governments. There are powers which belong to the States and the Municipal governments, just as there are also powers which belong to the Federal government such as the power to redraw the borders or admission of new States. Any serious applications of the Work-Standard will be influenced by its Constitutional Intents and Obligations. Every State in this Union contributes to it in their own way and receives something from the Union in return.
In Article V, the process of amending the Constitution is discussed. It requires either a unanimous act of Congress, a two-thirds majority within the House and Senate, or a National Convention demanded by a two-thirds majority of the State legislatures. To ensure the passing of an Amendment, the Federalists provided two methods. The first is a three-fourths majority of those same State legislatures are required to ratify the Amendment, thereby signaling to Congress their Constitutional Obligation to enforce it. The second, a preferable Council Democratic method, involves obtaining a three-fourths majority from State Delegates acting on behalf of their States. The latter method has only been used once to pass Amendment XXI, repealing Amendment XVIII and ending Prohibition.
In Article VI, the National Sovereignty of the Union is held by the Federal government. As a Constitutional Intent, it stipulates that all State laws and constitutions are subordinate to both Federal law and this Constitution. As a Constitution Obligation, the constitutionality of all State laws and constitutions is determined based on their compatibility with Federal law and this Constitution. Any conflicting insistencies are to be recognized by the State judiciaries and corrected by the State legislatures.
In Article VII, the ratification of the Constitution was to be implemented through ratifying conventions in every State. This enabled the States to adopt the Constitution, recognizing it as the supreme law of the Union and the Federal government’s wielding the Intents of Command and Obedience as well as National Sovereignty. It was meant to ensure that, with the States’ approval, the Federalists were able to form the Union and replace the Constitution’s predecessor, the Articles of Confederation.
Lastly, the Amendments represent the various decisions made over the centuries to revise the Constitution. A total of twenty seven Amendments have been passed and tens of thousands of attempts were made to pass additional ones. Only one Amendment has been repealed.
The first ten Amendments were added as part of the demands of the Anti-Federalists, becoming the “Bill of Rights.” The Bill of Rights described the various Legal Rights that the American people should have as a Totality and the Constitutional Obligations that the Federal government is supposed to have with regard to the Union and the States. The rest of the Amendments can be categorized based on their intended purposes and provisions.
Amendments XI, XVI, XVIII, and XXI are Constitutional Intents that elaborated on the authorities of the Federal government. Amendments XIII, XIV, XV, XIX, XXIII, XXIV, and XXVI are Legal Rights of the American people that the Federal government must enforce as Constitutional Obligations. Amendments XII, XVII, XX, XXII, XXV, and XXVII are Constitutional Obligations that the Federal government must uphold as part of its official functions on a procedural basis.
Relevance of the Amendments
Back in the Second Edition, the Reader may recall that the “Greater America Amendment,” an attempt at drafting a proposed constitutional law to introduce the Work-Standard, also repealed various Amendments in the process. The rationale at the time of its writing was that there should be a proper delineation between Constitutional Intents and Constitutional Obligations and Legal Duties and Legal Rights. The general trend is that Federal government should be given more or less powers to uphold a single Constitutional Intent and Constitutional Obligation, which is to recognize and enforce the existences of Legal Rights.
The idea of the Federal government having a Constitutional Intent to bestow something to the American people that is not a Legal Right, like a Constitutional Obligation or a Legal Duty, is unthinkable. Congress may pass Federal laws, the President may compel Congress and the States to work together, and the Supreme Court could reconfigure the parameters of constitutionality, but the idea of reciprocity is hardly conceived as necessary and proper.
In essence, for every Constitutional Obligation that the Federal government is expected to uphold as part of a Constitutional Intent, there has to be another Constitutional Obligation that the States are required to fulfill. For every Legal Right that the Federal government has a Constitutional Intent to enforce as a Constitutional Obligation, there is a Legal Duty that the Union must uphold. It is obvious that Articles IV, V, VI, and VII established the importance of the Federal, State and Municipal governments having shared Constitutional Intents and Obligations. The Supreme Court has made that clear in all of its rulings, but that is not the issue at hand here.
Basically, the Amendments themselves portray the social relations between the American people and the Federal government as resembling that of complete strangers, where one demands power and authority over the other without expecting to offer something in return. There is a sort of alienation that prevents the American people from having Constitutional Obligations to the Union or exercising Legal Rights tempered by Legal Duties. It makes the Federal government appear distant, divorced from the realities of everyday Americans, and too centralized at times. Senseless antagonisms between different States become inevitable because there is no higher force that could resolve their differences. It prevents everyday Americans from realizing that, at the end of the day, they exist as part of this Perpetual Union and why they are expected to contribute to its longstanding legacy.
Categories: Compendium
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