Micheal Kammens

Michael Kammen’s modern portrait of the Framers made the most sense. They wanted to maintain their rights, liberty, and self-government. Kammen's interpretation of the constitution makes the most sense because we can look at the Bill of Rights, the Articles of Confederation, Federalist No.51, the Virginia Plan, the Declaration of Independence, and even Montesquieu’s view of the government.
James Madison believed that the people were the source of authority for the state. The Bill of Rights was seen as somewhat of an attack on the government. It was simply to protect the individual rights and freedom of the people. The rights were freedom of speech, freedom of press, no established religion, no double jeopardy, and requirement of trial by jury. Kammen agrees that the Bill of Rights was the needed push for those who did not truly understand that the constitution was to protect the people of the state.
The articles of confederation do somewhat seem a little harsh. There was an idea that everything had to be reported back to the central power but there were underlining ideas in the articles. There initial purpose was to promote security of liberty and general warfare. Does this sound familiar? Those two things can be found in the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Exactly as Kammen inferences, we have a lack of knowledge of the constitution that causes us to miss important things. The articles indeed show the assurance of general warfare. Each state is self-governed but without having to report final decisions to the central power everything would essentially be “out of wake.” Liberty is having freedom under the set rules. Each state has their freedom but is under high authority.
In the Federalist No.51, James Madison’s point was to keep separation of government and to protect the rights of the people. Just as Kammen, Madison states, “It is evident that the members of each department should be as little dependent on those of the others.” This means each department should not rely on one another rather see how other states do it alone and use their level of success to help you establish a successful self-government. James Madison proposed the Virginia Plan. He wanted to reconstruct the government just as Kammen said the people wanted to. Madison stressed the belief that a nations survival depended on federalism. Federalism is the states having their own power under the central power. Basically, they did have self-government, which was one of Kammen’s main ideas. The declaration of independence written by Thomas Jefferson completely addresses Kammen’s want for rights and liberty. Jefferson stresses the need for each person to have his or her rights. The declaration of independence can be defined as a symbol of liberty. Jefferson summarizes many already know liberties into self-evident truths. Montesquieu’s view of the government helps add to Kammen’s idea of liberty. Montesquieu defines the types of liberty. He lets us see that with dependence on others and no self-government liberty cannot be possible. For example, political liberty, Montesquieu states, “The political liberty of the subject is a tranquility of mind arising from the opinion each person has of his safety. In order to have this liberty, it is requisite the government be so constituted as one man need not be afraid of another.” As we know, one of Kammen’s main ideas was the need for liberty and clearly Montesquieu helps us understand that the reason for that need is that liberty is needed for self-government. The Bill of Rights, the Articles of Confederation, Federalist No.51, the Virginia Plan, the Declaration of Independence, and even Montesquieu’s view of the government can clearly help us understand the interpretation Kammen is making of the constitution as a source of rights, liberty, and self-government.