What Actually Makes a “Land of the Free”
“For WHO ARE A FREE PEOPLE?”
John Dickinson, the “Penman of the American Revolution,” posed this timeless question in 1767.
His answer defied the modern narrative.
It’s not a system where you hope to find rulers who respect your constitution and liberty. That’s just luck. A population on its knees, begging for scraps.
In his Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, Dickinson defined a true “land of the free.” In doing so, he exposed the trap governments use to establish tyranny, and the fatal error the people make that guarantees it.
ARTFUL RULERS
Why are so many people confused about the limits of the constitution? Government-run schools fail to properly teach them. And, as Dickinson noted, politicians have long-mastered the art of making tyranny look legal.
“All artful rulers, who strive to extend their power beyond its just limits, endeavor to give to their attempts as much semblance of legality as possible.”
He cited the Roman historian Tacitus to remind us that every time they get away with doing this, it sets the stage for more of the same.
“That which is now supported by examples, growing old, will become an example itself, and thus support fresh usurpations.”
As a student of history, Dickinson understood that if you trust these people and their claims of legality, you’ll eventually end up in chains.
“Indeed we ought firmly to believe, what is an undoubted truth, confirmed by the unhappy experience of many states heretofore free, that UNLESS THE MOST WATCHFUL ATTENTION BE EXERTED, A NEW SERVITUDE MAY BE SLIPPED UPON US, UNDER THE SANCTION OF USUAL AND RESPECTABLE TERMS.”
THE TRAP
Here’s how the system of tyranny works. Tolerate one abuse, and you’ve already lost. Because they’re coming back for more.
“When an act injurious to freedom has been once done, and the people bear it, the repetition of it is most likely to meet with submission.”
Simple psychology explains why this has happened all through history. Once people submit to the first attack, they rationalize the second.
“For as the mischief of the one was found to be tolerable, they will hope that of the second will prove so too; and they will not regard the infamy of the last, because they are stained with that of the first.”
Politicians know exactly what they are doing. They start small on purpose so people dismiss the danger. Discussing the Townshend duties, Dickinson identified this as the greatest danger.
“Some persons may think this act of no consequence, because the duties are so small. A fatal error. That is the very circumstance most alarming to me. For I am convinced, that the authors of this law would never have obtained an act to raise so trifling a sum as it must do, had they not intended by it to establish a precedent for future use.” [emphasis added]
That’s the trap. They trick people into conceding the power that never should have been used in the first place.
“To console ourselves with the smallness of the duties, is to walk deliberately into the snare that is set for us, praising the neatness of the workmanship.”
Even the smallest violation of the Constitution, a single step beyond its limits is the precedent for unlimited power. For Dickinson, this was an unauthorized tax of just a single penny.
“In short, if they have a right to levy a tax of one penny upon us, they have a right to levy a million upon us: For where does their right stop? At any given number of Pence, Shillings or Pounds? To attempt to limit their right, after granting it to exist at all, is as contrary to reason – as granting it to exist at all, is contrary to justice.”
People have been fooled by this trap all through history. Dickinson cited the Roman historian Sallust to warn that bad precedents have good beginnings.
“Indeed nations, in general, are not apt to think until they feel; and therefore nations in general have lost their liberty: For as violations of the rights of the governed, are commonly not only specious…”
Because the violations look harmless, the people get complacent and ignore them.
“…but small at the beginning, they spread over the multitude in such a manner, as to touch individuals but slightly. Thus they are disregarded.”
Citing a leading biography of Cicero, Dickinson left us with the harsh reality that the bad guys always put in more work than the good guys.
“The republic is attacked always with greater vigor, than it is defended.”
OPPOSE A DISEASE AT ITS BEGINNING
Dickinson repeatedly warned us that waiting to oppose violations of the constitution is a death sentence for liberty. A power grab that is possible, or even difficult to stop today becomes nearly impossible to stop over time..
“Are these men ignorant that usurpations, which might have been successfully opposed at first, acquire strength by continuance, and thus become irresistible?”
Citing Montesquieu, he reminded us that the pattern never changes. Complacency leads to tyranny every single time.
“Let us take care of our rights, and we therein take care of our prosperity. SLAVERY IS EVER PRECEDED BY SLEEP.”
Constant vigilance isn’t paranoia – it’s survival.
“A FREE people therefore can never be too quick in observing, nor too firm in opposing the beginnings of alteration either in form or reality, respecting institutions formed for their security.”
Dickinson closed each of his Letters with a Latin phrase. He signed off his ninth with a reminder that government by precedent is like a deadly disease. The most likely cure? Cut it out right at the start.
“Venienti occurrite morbo. Oppose a disease at its beginning.”
But even with success, the work for liberty never ends.
“A perpetual jealousy, respecting liberty, is absolutely requisite in all free states.”
THE FOUNDATION
Throughout his letters, Dickinson also emphasized the foundation of freedom: Property rights and consent. In short, if you don’t have the right to say “NO!,” you are not free.
“Let these truths be indelibly impressed on our minds – that we cannot be HAPPY, without being FREE – that we cannot be free, without being secure in our property – that we cannot be secure in our property, if, without our consent, others may, as by right, take it away.”
One question, he wrote, is all that’s needed to determine if your freedom is real.
“THE SINGLE QUESTION IS whether the parliament can legally take money out of our pockets, without our consent. If they can, our boasted liberty is but a sound and nothing else.”
Dickinson didn’t pull any punches. If government can take your property without your consent, you are in chains.
“Those who are taxed without their own consent, expressed by themselves or their representatives, are slaves. We are taxed without our own consent, expressed by ourselves or our representatives. We are therefore – SLAVES.”
LAND OF THE FREE
That returns us to Dickinson’s timeless question: “For WHO ARE A FREE PEOPLE?”
It’s not just about getting the right people in power and hoping they do the right thing.
“Not those, over whom government is reasonable and equitably exercised…”
Instead, it’s a people who live under a system where anytime government gets out of line and attempts to go beyond its constitutional limits, it gets slapped right back into place.
“…but those, who live under a government so constitutionally checked and controlled, that proper provision is made against its being otherwise exercised.”
Dickinson knew that getting from the largest government in history to a real “land of the free” wouldn’t be quick or easy. That’s why he signed off the first of his letters with a timeless strategy lesson:
“Concordia res parvae crescunt,” which translates to “Small things grow great by concord.”
In the end, the “Penman of the American Revolution” was right. Small things did grow great in the years leading up to and after 1776.
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