xt7wwp9t2q46_86 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7wwp9t2q46/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7wwp9t2q46/data/59m61.dao.xml American Liberty League 37 linear feet archival material English University of Kentucky This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed.  Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically.  Physical rights are retained by the owning repository.  Copyright is retained in accordance with U. S. copyright laws.  For information about permissions to reproduce or publish, contact the Special Collections Research Center. Jouett Shouse Collection (American Liberty League Pamphlets), No. 89 "The Constitution and the New Deal" Address of James M. Carson of Miami, Florida, before the Birmingham Forum, Birmingham, Alabama, December 16, 1935, together with A Transcript of Forum Proceedings Following Mr. Carson's Speech text No. 89 "The Constitution and the New Deal" Address of James M. Carson of Miami, Florida, before the Birmingham Forum, Birmingham, Alabama, December 16, 1935, together with A Transcript of Forum Proceedings Following Mr. Carson's Speech 2013 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7wwp9t2q46/data/59m61/59m61_89/Am_Lib_Leag_89_001/Am_Lib_Leag_89_001.pdf section false xt7wwp9t2q46_86 xt7wwp9t2q46 » Pamphlets Available i I
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I Copies of the following pamphlets and ‘
other Leaeue literature may be obtained • •
upon application to the League’s national L The Constltutlcn
a headquarters:
Statement of Principles and Purposes l and  
American Liberty League-Its Platform
The Bonus
Inflation ` New  
The Thirty Hour Week Bill
The Holding Company Bill
Price Control  
The Labor Relations Bill t
The Farmers Home Bill g
The TVA Amendments H ‘
The Revised AAA Amendments 1
The President’s Tax Program * * *
Expanding Bureaucracy _
Lawmaking by Executive Order
New Deal Laws in Federal Courts
Consumers and the AAA _
Budget Prospects A
Dangerous Experimentation Address of
Economic Planning-Mistaken But Not New
l Work Relief 5
The AAA and Our Form of Government J JAMES M' CARSON
’2IIIL;I1i:;;_;;SEgrtlgzilxgriglsan Form of Government » Of Miami, Florida, before the Birmingham
The 1937 Budget Forum, Birmingham, Alabama,
· The National Labor Relations Act-Summary
of Conclusions from report of the National - D°°°mb°* 16° 1935
Lawyers Committee _
_ Straws Which Tell together wrth
How to Meet the Issue-Speech by W. E. Borah
The American Bar—The Trustee of American AT · fF P d•
_ Institutions-Speech by Albert C. Ritchie ranscrlpt 0 Drum ,1-0cec ings
The Test of Citizenship—Speech by Dean Carl F°ll°W1ng Mr· Carson S Sveeeh
W. Ackerman
"Breathing Spells”—Speech by Jouett Shouse
The Duty of the Lawyer in the Present Crisis- L
Speech by James M. Beck I
The Constitution and the Supreme Court- H
Speech by Borden Burr i y RI
‘ The Economic Necessity in the Southern States  yyc`4 H
for a Return to the Constitution-Speech by Y ptvs   W
Forney Johnston r_  
» The National Lawyers Committee of the Amer- Q,   SI
ican Liberty League-Speech by Ethan A. H. `6   ».»~e  <:•
Shepley ' 'Pfy L?)
Our Growing National Debt and Inflation- H
H Speech by Dr. E. W. Kemmerer
Inflation is Bad Business-Speech by Dr. Neil H .
Carothers
The Real Significance of the Constitutional Is-
sue—Speech by R. E. Desvernine »
Arousing Class Prejud'c —S h b J tt _
stm. I is ""“ y """ H AMEmcAN LIBERTY LEAGUE
Thlel Falgacies alpdDDangers of the Townsend Nariaaal Headquarters
F an- peech y r. W. E. Spahr
What of 1936?-Speech by James P. Warburg L NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING
Anbericanism at the Crossroads—Speech by R. E. WASHINGTON, D. C.
* esvernine
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AMERICAN LIBERTY LEAGUE
NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING
WASHINGTON, D. C. _
H Document No. 89

 . . lt °d h h d d f h
The Cehehthheh and The New Dee! B°.mZZi.a.° IYHZEZYE. ZF l`9:32f)cd*n(d€uf1se?1rfh;
* words “New Deal,” if that phrase meant the
MFR Carson MMS introduced by MT- Rifihard Democratic platform of 1932, then I am not
Hail Brown, President of the Birmingham Chap- p "An[i.NgW [)€a]_"
ter of the American Liberty League, who out-  
l' d b ' h h' t d 1 h ? .
igggue Zggyagdidfs my an purposes of t 8 I THERE 1S a good deal of question as to
"I might stress the fact that we have no secret y Whcihgr tl? pgcdges if Ent platfqrl? hliwc heeh
motive or ulterior objective; that we believe in   Quin? 01:1; t time O t cm fccrtam Y e_;e_¤e*·
some principles which we believe are common It is true that th eee were   °r€ScCn_°fm }t1°nS‘
to the good people of this country, and for that   d. li ru'; EE Cf wer}? t ings rgqlallmnlg 1mm€`
reason we asked Mr. Carsoneto come here to- `“ dia; a cn Kg] a mr t C t F , ere ’ 193%
night because we felt that he is sound as a law- I t a Hpgcscmc aufcmmgcncy t IS caiyiinoug
yer, and knows what he is talking about, al- i 0 n siguscil dor t F lg€mP?raifY al um t°
though he is not a member ofthe American Lib- "{ Gag? Ou tf? P C gas P L at P et 01`EL h h
erty League. We wrote to Mr. Carson and asked Ad ,6 ,qF€i,1°H (nm; {Sh OWCVCL gv cf er the
him if he would present the views of the Ameri- P Hiléus tr? {On im , Ohnot C9? P6 uf t° t C
can Liberty League, and he wrote back that he Fi: cn ’ b app; if tg; fi aictwlims O. many
could not present the views of anyone else, but Qi F mcmfzri 0 t C mliustrziuon) IS -luSu`
he Could present his Own views}, clit? ccingnuing Eotlpnly 1tS fa1la1ref to carry
Mr. Carson’s address follows: zlilcthgrpuzfss gh; Cc ndzlfocraglc P et Ormj blft
0 1 ions ere 1S an Jus 1-
I fication at all for its subtle and undercover at-
T is true I am not a member of the American tack upon the Constitution of the United States.
Liberty League. I am not a member of any The only attack of that sort that I have seen
political organization except the Democratic that came from the President himself was last
Party. I do not undertake, for the American May, after the Supreme Court of the United
Liberty League or anybody else, to express any- States by a unanimous decision had held the
body’s views on political situations except my N.R.A. Act unconstitutional. In that connec-
own. 1 tion he spoke of the Constitution as havin been A
I see in the newspapers I am an “Anti-New adopted in “horse and buggy” days. `Wliether
97 7 * •
Dealer. Well, I don t know whether I am or y he 1ntended to infer that it was no longer bind-
pot, tI?.geryl;;ody1 ;c1‘&*ho1r5 yin} talk has a d1f- y iplg cfu thg Supgerine Coulit or on Congress or on
eren 1 eao w a ew ea means. ~ t e resi ent o not now.
The head of the administration, I suppose, has   But the fadt is that every one of them, when
more right to define what the New Deal means ·i they took ofiice, held up their right hands and ,
than anybody else. So far as 1 know he has A swore to “preserve protect and defend” the
never defined it but one time, and that time I i Constitution of the ,United States. “I·Iorse and
heard him. Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt of Tl buggy" days was just a phrase. Of course, the
1 New York flew to Chicago in 1932 after the   Constitution was adopted more than one hun- i
Democratic platform had been adopted and dred and fifty years ago when there were stage A
after he had been nominated for the Presidency coaches and horses and buggies, but the Consti- A
of the United States. He flew there to accept tution is based upon principles of government,  
the nomination, and in one and the same speech   and principles are eternal.
he said he was one hundred per cent for the , 4
Democratic platform, and then, in that speech T , _ _
for the first time, he used the words “Nemi   dolmg nig?] that the C°mutut1°1% is _ 5
Deal}, p not  c1en•t y eil? e·to take care of changing ;
Now, I am still one hundred per cent for the   sggrcltgzgs *;;n:i°1"‘“$‘“g1WQ1’1‘ii1I do mean lf t
Democratic platform. If, when Governor Roose- T P P as mvo VC ’ Bu emergency *
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 1
does not excuse the violation of those principles. I wonderful document ever struck off at a given
It is not argument to say that because the Con- ? time by the brain of man.” That is a very flat-
stitution was adopted in °°h01‘Se and lJl1ggY” d8YB   tering thing, but it isn°t exactly true.
we should not observe it, any more than it * It was, of course, agreed upon in convention
would be argument to say that because the Ten I and ratified by the States, but the principles em-
Commandments were promulgated before any-   bodied in it had been in the process of making
body ever heard of horses and buggies, we must   for many hundreds of years before that. The I
not be bound by them. I Hrst nine Amendments to the Constitution, .
In this, as in every other argument that is car- ¤ which were adopted simultaneously with it, pro-
ried on throughout the country before the peo- tected such fundamental rights as the freedom
ple of the country, we find a good deal of diiii- of the individual to worship his God as he I
culty in defining just what we are arguing about. .· willed, his right to express his opinion, his right  
The reason we find that difliculty is that people if not to be condemned without due process of I
are in the habit of arguing with slogans and ¥ law. The Tenth Amendment specifically pro- I
with phrases that do not mean anything, or the  P vided that the powers not by the Constitution  
meaning of which change from day to day, just 2 directly granted to the government of the United  
like the meaning of the phrase "The New Deal” l States were reserved to the people or to the  
has changed since June of 1932. States.  
We find a lot of people who talk about “back So, what we have is a government set up by
to the C.onstitution,” or °°fo1‘Wa1‘d with the C011- I the people themselves. There are nine things I
stitution.” That is not argument. I think that I that it cannot do against the individual, and
those lawyers throughout this country who have   those nine things are the things your ancestors
studied questions of government, particularly in i and mine have been engaged in a struggle for
connection with the Constitution, ought to get   hundreds of years to obtain and maintain; that
out and talk about it in layman’s language to I is, they safeguard the liberty of the individual.
people who are not lawyers. I The rest of the Constitution undertakes to
There is no point to a bunch of lawyers, all   set up a frame work of government, to reserve
of whom think alike, sitting around a table and I to the people and the States control of certain
arguing with each other about the Constitution,   things, and to grant to the Government of the
or what it means, or what it was intended to I United States the power to legislate and control
accomplish, or what it did accomplish, or as to certain other things.
whether it has been violated or not. Every great I In granting that power, the Constitution un-
constitutional debate in the history of this coun-   dertook to separate the rights of the legislative,
try, and in the history of England for a thou- % the executive and the judicial branches of the
sand years back, has, in the last analysis, had   Government.
to be taken to the people themselves, and that   The judicial branch of the Government, con-
must be true in any country where the people I trary to many things that have been published
are the ultimate sovereigns.   in magazines and in newspapers put out by
The Constitution is nothing more or less than   some of the high-powered publicity men in this
a written charter of government, promulgated I administration, is not concerned with the right
by a convention, approved by the States, finding I or the wrong or the morals of legislation. ln
I its source of final sovereignty in the people of passing upon the constitutionality or the uncon-
the United States themselves, and in and by that stitutionality of legislation, courts can examine
I charter they say to their government what it has I only the question of power. When Congress
power to do and what it does not have power I passes a law undertaking to regulate the busi-
to do. I ness of a man who, we shall say, kills chickens
  in Birmingham, and the Supreme Court is pass- I
_ _   ing on the constitutionality of that law, the
MR- GLADSTONE. in 1878, Saldv "Th¢ Amen' “ question before the Supreme Court for decision I
can C011Stit¤ti0¤ is, as far as I can Sec- the most is whether or not Congress exceeded its powers I
4 I 5 I
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 in the passage. of that law. All the powers the l my property, and if he has the Power to SCH it,
Congress has, 1t got from the Const1tut1on of the , what he Shall do with the money
United States, which is the charter given to it, That is a Solemn compact a lsolcmu ag1_c€_
and the elheera of the Federal Gevelhmehl bY I ment between us. I have made him my trustee.
the PeePle' The eupleme Court of the Umlee But Mr. Brown decides that conditions have
States lh May° Sala that he matter how (lean" changed; that he is not bound by that contract;
able It may he’ he matter what the Cehglleee that he can take powers I haven’t given him,
may thlhlh he matter how much the Pleeleelll and I object to his taking powers I had never
may eleelle lh the Peeple of thls eeuml`Y’ thc 1 given him, and go into the courts with it. He
Uhltell States of Alhel`lea’ never have glvell has two defenses: first, conditions have changed,
their Congress the right to legislate on local t because when that deed of trust was drawn up
mattera _ _ _   he was driving a horse and buggy, and now he
Neaa Yee _maY Say ehahglhg llmea llequllle { has a Ford V-8, and, second, he doesn’t want
ehahglhg llmltatlehe of pewela There aee lwe   me to attack his powers under that trust agree-
Wa}? that eah be bmught ahellh Uhlll last   ment because it will have to come before a
aprmg halaiaye thought l was extremely llhelal   judge. That is the analogy to the objections .
on constitutional matters. I thought I was unt1l j certain people rely upon in their attacks upon 1
M1" Iekeaj whe _lS a Repuhlleah member sf a   the constitutional rights of the American people.
Democrat1c cabinet, announced that lawyers “ ML Justice Holmes, in his Opinion, Said, you
héd he fight te express thelr eplhleha eh eeh` have got to be reasonable in your constitutional
Shluuehal questlehe hefele the Ceulll had ee` interpretation, because you have got to leave
elded them' l theeghl It leelele lhle lameue room for the play of the joints of the machine.
Preheuheemehl ahem heree aha buggy days; l We have seen another applied method of lib- I
thought I was llheral hhlll Peeple _Whe get eralizing the Constitution, and that is that the.
impatient to see their 1deas enacted into laws, Constitution itself, which is a gram of Power
talked ahem the hlhe members ef the Supreme from the people to their government, contains
Court ef the Umleel States as the ehlhe ele meh provisions for its own amendment. That was
m black klmehea seen as long ago as the Farewell Address of the
first President of the United States, from which
I en the sort of liberal that ustice Ml" Brown has quoted mlllgllh I
OlixI;IeliellIV;)1i3dell Holmes, who died well allong in t l\i0l)0(ly’ S0 far as l lillolie has ever taken the A
his nineties, had been. Justice Holmes, in a   poslllcll that the Collsllllltloll lllusl not ever be
case I had the privilege of arguing before the A amcllllcCl’   llle propel. Posltloll and the ellly
Su Court of the United States construed   honest position, it seems to me, IS that 1f It is
Pleme . . . . ’ . F to be amended lt must be amended according
the meaning of certain decisions concerning the g to its Own term; because it is a mm Of we
limitations upon the powers of State I.egisla· j from the 60 16; and the B0 behave thgoultil
tures, and I thought he stated the principle very   maui Sovegcignty and tl; gzmplc alone cm;
I   I U 0 ’
WGH; HF WL .T*2¢ mcmg amply 15 that at ....,...1i.. Any ah,.   of ........1......., by
eellslllllllellal plmclples must leave Some play l Ie islation in violation of the terms of the Con- i
to the joints of the machine. But courts cannot Stiution or amendment by Stealth or usurpa i
fao Very lar agalllel llle lllelal lgeellllle and elem I tion, is a betrayal of the fundamental liberties €
mlelll el a collslllullollal text" of these people, and a betrayal of the liberties I
Public oilicers are public servants. Suppose _ . .
. . t of the people of each of the forty-e1ght states 1n
I should make Mr. Richard Hail Brown trustee t the Union Of the United States , Y
under a deed of trust to handle certain property p `
of mine; suppose in that deed of trust I should j e
Say te hilfn what he eah do aha what he eahhet   I THINK I can stop long enough here to tell
._ ae Wah lt; what expeheea hs has tha rlght ts   you a little story about the argument of the case
mel"` fer me¤ Whether hc has the wget to Sell { I have referred to before the Supreme Court of *
f
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 the United States when M1`- Jlletiee H0l111€S WaS opinion on constitutional questions. Not only
011 the bench. I had taken a11 appeal t1'0111 the lawyers have the right to do it, but every citizen
Supreme Court of Florida. If you think it ia in America has not only the right but the duty
an easy matter to argue before that Court, if to think about his Constitution and to talk
you think you don’t have to keep your wits about it. “Out of the clash of opposing opinions
about YOU, I will tell Y011 this I1ttI€ St01`Y to comes truth,” and those of us who exercise only
Show how You are apt to be Put in the C01'11€1` our right of self-expression, our right of free-
I1’0111 the bench- dom of speech, feel that we have the right to
In the middle of my argument I got a little go to the people of this country and talk to
bit worked up and began waving my linger and them about their business at any time we get
shaking my fist on a particular line of argu- ready.
ment, and Mr. Justice Holmes, who was a very f
distinguished gentleman, leaned across the
heneh and said, °°Yeur name is Mr, Carsen, J  IaSt 1CI1OI1tl1, III NOV€D1bCr, in Atlanta the
isn’t it?" I said, "Yes, sir," He said, °°The .4, Honorable William L. Ransom, President of
argument you are using is very much like the the American Bar Association, made a little
argument in an opinion handed down by the speech. This is the Journal of the American
Supreme Court ef Masgaehugettg just before I Bar Association for December. I am just read-
left that bench.” I knew that was over twenty i11g 0116 paragraph of it.
years before, and I knew that if he had re- He Said, °°By and large, I believe that the ,
y memhered that epinien fer se many years, the average American laWy€1’ has IJBCII and is faith-
ehanees were that he had written it, I knew ful to the fundamentals of democratic govern-
I had better make him think I had read it, ment in this country. Above all, he cherishes
heeauge aI] ef ug have some Seri; of Pride of the A1I1€1’iCaI1 t1‘aditiOI1 of t0lC1‘aI1t, full and 1111- ·
I authorship. I knew if I should say I had read trammeled public discussion of public questions.
it, he might ask a question about it, So, this There must be no obstruction or challenge of
is the way it was handled by both of us, I the right and duty of reasoned and tolerant
think we both enjoyed it, I think he knew discussion of issues, in the great debate upon
what I was doing, and I think I knew what he constitutional questions that is at hand. Ques-
was doing. So, I said, “If Your Honor please, tions of constitutional interpretation as to the
for the purpose of argument in this Court, I powers of government are in first instance for
am prepared only with the decisions ef this the Courts, which will fully take care of all
Court.” He said, “That is quite proper, sir," errors of interpretation, by whomever urged;
I said, "But, it may very well he that in making but questions of the powers and policy of gov-
the argument I am new using I am guilty Of €1'1'11I1CI1t, aI1(I IZIIC IIIVISIOII of p0WC1‘S l0GtW€€Il
unconscious plagiarism.” He bowed and smiled é the N3tt0118I government and the States. are
and said, “The opinion was open to the public, always I01‘ the people, Whose preponderant
sir," r opinion and deliberate wishes become the
The opinion was open to the public! The ri Supreme law of the la11ii·°°
Constitution is open to the public! All con- I think the Way I happened to be invited to .
stitutional questions must come back to the 001116 here is that OH September Ilth I made a *
people; they must he talked out before the little thirty minute speech in Fort Lauderdale, g
people, and they ought to be talked out in the Florida, which is just a few miles north of I
most kindly spirit; they ought to be argued en Miami. It was Constitution Week. They had
I principle, without slogans, and analyzed right asked me to talk about the Constitution a little
down to the fundamentals of government and bit- I diilllit ifltellel t0 get into any constitu-
of what we are trying to accomplish. tional debate or discussion, but I was pointing I
I do not appreciate it when a member gf the out how our fathers who adopted the Constitu- I
Cabinet who is trying to get power for himself tion had realized that in a continent as large as
says that lawyers have ne right to express their this all powers should not be centralized at the
8 9

 Capital of the country; that there should be a letter from a young lawyer in J ackS011Viii6»
that local self-government for which our an- savihg it Washit true and and nothing aheut it
cestors have been fighting for more than a was true. I didn’t know him. I wrote him and
thousand years. Among other reasons why our asked him to g6i i01' m6 ifnm th6 iii6S of ih6
ancestors did not want all governmental powers Bureau eertain information- Beiere I get his
gcntralizgd in one place was that thoy rgaljzgd SCCOI1d ].CttC1' I ].€81`H€d. that TIIS f3tl1C1° WHS in
under such conditions there would be a tend- charge of th6 -ta6kS0nViii6 B111‘6a11· Wh6n I
ency to have governments run by bureaucrats, get his reply. he Said he had d66id6d n0i
  a System Of rcrnotc control. to gO :tiOI`W3I°(].   thC I]]Htt€I°, and I HCVCY
After I had accepted the invitation and before did get the eiiieiai information i01` which I
the time for the little speech rolled around, _ asked-
we had a little breeze in Florida on Labor Day, °’ Th6 thing that mad6 it amnsing WaS on the
and in that particular breeze more than five . ath ei N0V6mh61` W6 had an0th61’ hn1`1°i6an6
hundred of the men who had served this coun- that eame in irem the n0rth6aSt· Oi 60¤1‘S6»
try in the World War lost their lives. I have rt, the PeePie ih Miami are experieheeti eheugh
iivod in Florida oi] my ]ifo’....iiot yet, but oi] with hurricanes to know when the center of the
of my iife so far. I know tt iittio hit about hurricane is passing the town. There is a lull.
hurricanes, and I know a little bit about fore- The center et the hurricane hit mv heuse at
casting them. twelve-thirty. The lull lasted until two. At
I said this in the Fort Lauderdale speech, and ehe'htteeh the mah ih charge et the Weather
it is true, that the reason those men lost their Bureau in Miami broadcast 0V61` th6 radio a
lives was because the Weather Bureau, which is Warhihg issued ih Jaeksehviiie teiiihg us that
not a New Deal bureau, is bound down and tied the eehter of the hurrieahe might be exleeeted
up   red tape, and the Sort of control you to Strike SOIH€WhCr€ Hear   in two hours,
get under bureaucrats, and they could not put aha a huhtireti ahti sevehtY'hve theusahti PeePie
out their warnings in tiine_ In other Words, knew we were in the center of it then. Remote
the man in oharge of the Miami office, no matter control! Bureaucratic control! Control by red
what he knows, is not allowed to broadcast a taPei
warning of a hurricane except on instructions T hat Was ah illustration that eam6 h0m6 to
from Jacksonville. They can prove to you on the PeePie there- I eahit give Yeu the iiius·
paper that he can; there is some sort of a ruling tratieh that Wiii eeme heme to Yeu here in
about an emergency, but that rule doesn’t work; Birmihghami t eahit sive Yeu the iiiustratinhs .
because if he does broadcast a warning, and that wiii eeme heme to people eiseWhere» but
if the thing he warns about doesn’t happen, all of Yeu whe have had ahv eXPeriehee with
hc is out of his job' Government at all realize that the further from
So, because this man in Miami was a bureau- i` heme eehtrei sets, the mere red taPe Yeu have
crat, working under Jacksonville, he couldn’t I to ge through, the mere eur rights ahti iiherties
put out the warning. Jacksonville was in charge f are ih tiahgeh
of another bureaucrat, and they didn’t permit ~ I
the putting out of a warning they thought would _ HAVE aivvavs Persehaiiv veted ter Pr0hihi·
be against the wishes of the head of a bureau tteth _ I was aiways Very doubtful Whether Pr0·
in Washington, and in Washington ovon the h1b1t1on was the sort of thing that could be
hard-working bureaucrat takes holidays on handled from Wiashihgtem heeause that is a
Leher Dain Se, when a hurricane, no matter matter for local. self-government under the
how dangerous, is approaching on Labor Day, theet`Y I am taikihg aheute but the Amerifian
our Miami man, tied down by the red tape that Peepte htahtett the eXPerimeht tried, and th6Y
results from centralized, bureaucratic, remote {hd tty ttv ahti it tiitihit Work, wd the result
centre], Cannot nnt out the Warning that may 1S now there are more wet states, by far, than
Save many hVeS_ there were before National prohibition was
That little speech got into print and I got tttett
· 10 ii

 The point to that is, of course, that when you Mexico has had constitutions that, from reading
get away from the system of local self-govern- them, sounded as if they were conceived in
ment, when you abolish state lines, when you liberty as much as ours, but you see what has
center power in Washington, you don’t know at times happened to them. There and else-
what sort of abuse is going to result. It may where, dictators have come to power. They
be that prohibition might have worked except have ignored the rights of individuals. The
for the fact that in the first year or two it got peoples of those countries have allowed usurpa-
into the hands of a particularly inefficient and tions of power, with the result that these dic-
sometimes corrupt bureaucracy, but after it was tators have at times simply wiped out their
out of your hands and in theirs, you were liberties and theconstitutions in those countries
powerless to see whether it would work. There have become just scraps of paper.
was nothing you could do about it.   In this country, under our written Constitu-
Now, the thing that is going on in this coun- V tion, and in Great Britain, under their un-
try now is a discussion about the necessity for X written constitution, "eternal vigilance is the
amending the Constitution. They have changed ,,¥ price of liberty.” Now, that doesn’t mean only
their line of attack since last May. Last May I eternal vigilance to see an attempt to usurp
the idea was that the Supreme Court ought not power, but it means eternal vigilance, when you
to pass on the Constitution. Last May the idea do see it, to tell your fellow citizens about it.
was that we were not bound by the Constitu- If liberty is worth having, it is worth being
tion. Now, when they see the American people vigilant for, and if, being vigilant, you see it en-
don’t like that line, they are changing their dangered, then it becomes your solemn duty,
line, and saying the Constitution ought to be and your solemn obligation, not only to your
amended. , conscience and your country, but to those of
That may be. I don°t know. But I do know your ancestors who have shed their blood that
that neither you nor I nor anybody else in this Y011 might }13V€ th6 ]ib€1"¢Y YOU enjoy '¢0d¤Y, to
country ought to be required to answer whether call those things to the attention of the Ameri-
a particular amendment is required or not, can people, Whose power may be usurped, whose
until it is formulated and reduced to writing sovereignty may be impaired.
and laid before us. In other words, we don’t
want to give any government a blank check to OUR Written Constitution is the very chart,
say to any administration, “Go ahead and the VBYY Outliuee th'? V€1`Y c0mP1€t€ gram of
amend it however you want, and we will back power under which your servants and mine are
you up_" undertaking to discharge their trust as public
servants, and don’t forget, in discussing the
rights of the executive or legislative branches of
AMENDMENTS to be properly adopted must *— the Government to exercise powers not granted
be put in discussable form. They must be writ- , them, that each member of each of those
ten out and put before the American people, fl branches of government, when he took his office,
and the American people must have a right to M held up his hand and swore before his Maker
pass on them using their own sound judgment. to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitu-
The Supreme Court of the United States is ‘ tion of the United States.
the only final place where the right of Congress, It ought to be very easy to remind the people
or of the President, or of any State, or legisla- of the South that if one branch of the Govern-
tion under the United States Constitution can ment can usurp power, so can another. In the
be determined. That is necessarily so. A con- late sixties, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee was
stitution that does not have some machinery, President of the United States. The Congress
providing some tribunal where acts passed in of the United States was under the domination
excess of power or authority can be set aside, of Thad Stevens of Pennsylvania. That Con-
is no constitution at all. gress undertook to pass a law saying that the
Written constitutions don°t mean much. President of the United States could not remove
12 13

 an officer of his Cabinet without the consent wish in regard to the formation of the Con-
of the Congress. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee stitution.
did remove a Cabinet officer. MR. CARSON: I shall be very delighted 'to
For that, this radical House led by Thad tell you. The Constitutional Convention met
Stevens undertook to impeach him, and only and proposed the Constitution and submitted
by the narrow margin of one vote, more than it to the States. Each State, through its legis-
that many being cast by Republican Senators lature, decided for itself just how and when it
from the North who took seriously their oaths to Y should hold its own convention, and how dele-
preserve the Constitution, was that attempt at gates should be elected. In all states, ratifica-
impeachment foiled. It was sixty years later, tion was by Constitutional Conventions, but the
in the Myers case which arose in Portland, method of their choosing was such that it was
Oregon, that the precise question went to the in fact ratified by popular vote.
Supreme Court of the United States for de- A VOICE: I would like to ask what is the
cision; that is, whether the Congress could pre- nature of the amendment the present adminis-
· vent the Executive from removing an executive , tration seeks to have made in the Constitution.
appointee without the consent of the Congress, MR. CARSON: We can’t find out. I have here
and the Supreme Court of the United States a “Current History” I bought yesterday on the
answered that the Congress could not usurp the way from Atlanta over here, in which Mr. Roper
executive power, any more than the Executive has a long article headed “Forward with the
could usurp the power of the Judiciary. An- C0nstitution,” and all he says is: “We may
drew Johnson had to wait sixty years for his l1ave to propose an amendment, and if we do,
vindication, and when he got it, it came from we want it adopted.”
the “nine old men in black kimonos." THE SAME VOICE: Roughly speaking, I be-
You can trust your courts. I don’t mean by lieve they want such an amendment added to
that they don’t make mistakes. They do. But the Constitution as will permit N.R.A.
I mean that the ultimate question of constitu- MR. CARSON: No I think N.R.A. was in their
tionality must be raised and decided some- minds until they saw the prosperity that re-
where. You can not let the Executive pass on sulted when it was knocked out, and I think
the constitutionality of his own acts, nor can now they want it to permit the A.A.A.
you let the Congress pass on the constitution- A VOICE: Do you mind giving your opinion
ality of theirs. on the constitutionality of the A.A.A.°?
The Constitution is a contract between the MR. CARSON: I don’t mind giving my opinion
people and the Government, and those officers On anything,