The Revolutionary James Madison

-- By NathanielCrider - 06 Mar 2015

Introduction

From the textbooks, we see a portrait of James Madison: diminutive and earnest conciliator. And from the casebooks, we see the First Amendment: disassembled and fragmented. A bundle of discrete rights at war with itself.

Madison’s First Amendment, however, was unified in spirit and purpose. The First Amendment that Madison wrote secured the absolute rights of free expression against totalitarianism. It, and its creator, were revolutionary.

The Four Functions of the Guarantee of Freedom of Expression

Fundamentally, the rights of freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion and petition function as a bulwark against totalitarian government. Specifically, these rights – together the rights of 'free expression' – serve four basic functions in pursuit of that goal.

First, free expression facilitates self-realization. The realization of a one's character and potentialities, which is the ultimate achievement of self-realization, is necessarily particular to the individual. In developing her personality, the individual has the right to form her own beliefs and opinions. And because expression is critical to the development of belief and opinion, she must also be allowed to express her ideas. Government actions which tend to suppress the expression of belief and opinion therefore thwart an essential purpose of the individual.

Second, the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment advance knowledge. Indeed, the free expression rights may even help us obtain the Truth. By embracing free and rational inquiry, the proposition thus rejects the notion that a single individual or small group of individualscan know and proclaim the Truth.

Third, the free expression rights are indispensable to political participation and decision-making. The just power of government derives from the consent of the governed. As the holders of sovereign power, citizens have the right to form their own beliefs and communicate to the government and the governed through the political process. And because the political process is the means by the people govern themselves, freedom of political expression is thus critical to securing freedom elsewhere.

Finally, the guarantee of freedom of expression balances society between stability and change. Suppression produces a superficial conformity and results in the ossification of ideas. By contrast, the full discussion and encouragement of dissent provides catharsis for the aggrieved and an opportunity for the state to address or maintain the social conditions necessary for democratic self-government. Though stoking the embers of dissent may threaten the state, history teaches us that suppression more often harms the general welfare than it protects.

Madison and the Guarantee of Anti-Totalitarianism

The First Amendment guarantee of free expression thus provides a framework for a dynamic, democratically-organized society. And through the encouragement of dissent, it offers a vision of government anchored by reason and in the virtue. Of course, the First Amendment necessarily rejects that with which it is incompatible: an authoritarian politics of stagnation. Accordingly, the security offered by the First Amendment's system of free expression thus protects more than any one of its constituent functions or rights.

As the author of the First Amendment, the life and writings of James Madison inform the original expectations of the guarantee of free expression. Madison, to be sure, was at times ambivalent about the inclusion of a Bill of Rights in the Constitution. But his reservations were more pragmatic and functional than principled. Indeed, he viewed the of Rights the Bill or Rights as educational and aspirational; the inclusion of which, he believed, would enable republican citizens to govern themselves. And because the desire to include the Bill of Rights had cooled at the time of the first session of Congress, the amendments might never had been added to the constitution were it not for Madison's conviction. Although bookish and soft-spoken, Madison was the "very epitome of the thinking revolutionary." The First Amendment he authored is imbued with the same revolutionary spirit.

Facilitates Self-Realization

Madison did not advocate the self-actualizing importance of free expression as clearly as some of his contemporaries. Yet Madison's commitment to protecting individual's autonomy interests in free expression predated his interest in politics. In 1785’s Memorial and Remonstrance, Madison makes it clear that freedom of religion is “held by the same tenure as all other rights” because it is “the gift of nature.” Indeed, because “the opinions of men…cannot follow the dictates of other men…[and] [i]t is the duty of every man to render the Creator such homage and such only as he believes to be acceptable to him," Madison concludes that Virginia legislature is without the jurisdiction to issue any restriction on the freedom of conscience.

Advances Knowledge and Truth

That knowledge, or at least the most learned judgment, is advanced through open and free expression is found throughout Madison’s writings. Indirect democracy channels decision-making to representatives, who in turn mediate between groups of individuals and their opinions. And fragmentation of the electoral base floods the market with diffuse ideas. The twin assumptions of the Madisonian plan therefore require free expression.

Protects Political Participation and Decision-Making

At the heart of the Madisonian plan is protecting open discussion for the participation of citizens in decision-making. In a series of essays condemning Alexander Hamilton and his monetary and fiscal policies published in 1791 and 1792 , Madison was unequivocal: “Public opinion sets bounds to every government, and is the real sovereign in every free state." Despite the careful design of his constitutional scheme, public opinion is the ultimate check on abuse of power.

Balances Stability and Change

There is not a single principle Madison championed more than the idea that free and open discussion is necessary for a stable yet adaptable society. After years of living in fear of the guillotine and the bitterness and suspicion resulting from the election of 1796, the Federalist-controlled Congress enacted the Sedition Act in 1798. Protesting the Act, Madison argued that censorship “ought, ‘more than any [unconstitutional act] produce universal alarm; because it is levelled against…free communication among the people thereon, which has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right.’” Because it denigrates the right of suffrage – “the essence of a free and responsible government" -- suppression of the right to free expression hence threatens the stability of democratic government.

Conclusion

Madison, to be sure, was too pragmatic But Madison’s writings confirm that which is clear the text of the First Amendment: It is a revolutionary document securing for the people the right of free expression against despots, crafted by a willful, revolutionary man.

Perhaps a few minutes with secondary sources about Madison and the First Amendment, from Irving Brant's biography to Jack Rakove's Original Meanings would be helpful. Though my argument concerning the meaning of the amendment is here in full, a little more touch with Madison himself, not through selectively-culled quotations from pamphlets, might be of use.