Trust No One: The Founders’ Warnings on Power and Liberty
The Founders warned us – again and again – that power always expands, no matter who holds it.
You can’t trust anyone with power, no matter how much you like them or what they’re doing with it, because that same power will eventually fall into the hands of someone determined to destroy your liberty.
Their warnings about the dangers of power remain as relevant today as ever.
The Universal Danger of Power
John Adams put it bluntly: “There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.”
Not some, not most – all. This stark warning from Adams is a cornerstone of the Founders’ philosophy: liberty and concentrated power cannot coexist.
Adams himself became a cautionary tale. Once celebrated as the “Atlas of Independence” for his fierce defense of natural rights during the Revolution, Adams later, as president, signed into law the infamous Alien and Sedition Acts, which curtailed free speech, among other usurpations of power.
Mercy Otis Warren captured this tragic transformation, writing that Adams’ earlier principles were “beclouded by a partiality for monarchy.”
Precedent: The Quiet Expansion of Power
John Dickinson, in his Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, warned that rulers often cloak their power grabs in legality.
Each new usurpation, he wrote, strengthens the precedent for future encroachments: “That which is now supported by examples growing old will become an example itself, and thus support fresh usurpations.”
Dickinson’s insight aligns with Tacitus’ timeless observation, referring to the Roman historian known for his critical analysis of power and corruption: “The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.”
As students of history, the Founders understood that unchecked power doesn’t vanish – it compounds over time.
Power’s Insatiable Appetite
Samuel Adams observed that “power is intoxicating,” and those vested with it often abuse it and refuse to relinquish it.
Abigail Adams echoed this warning in a letter to her husband, John, during the Revolution: “Power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping and, like the grave, cries ‘Give, give.’”
Even the staunchest defenders of liberty can fall prey to its allure, she noted, as “he who is most strenuous for the rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the prerogatives of government.”
George Mason made a similar point during the Philadelphia Convention, warning that those with power “will always, when they can, rather increase it.”
Patrick Henry, perhaps the most vocal critic of centralized power, hammered this point home during the Virginia Ratifying Convention in 1788: “Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men, without a consequent loss of liberty.”
This underscores Patrick Henry’s view that trusting rulers with unchecked power is sheer insanity. Liberty will be lost: guaranteed.
“I say that the loss of that dearest privilege has ever followed, with absolute certainty, every such mad attempt.”
Limit Power, Preserve Liberty
The Founders agreed that liberty depends on limiting power.
Richard Henry Lee captured this principle in a letter to Patrick Henry, writing that “the liberties of the people are not so safe under the gracious manner of government as by the limitation of power.”
George Washington, in his Farewell Address, reinforced this idea, cautioning against usurpation: “Let there be no change by usurpation; for though this in one instance may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.”
Lessons for Today
Despite these timeless warnings, many today fall into the trap the Founders feared: supporting strict limits on power only when the “other team” holds it.
When their own side is in control, they often embrace the same usurpations, building on precedents set by their enemies.
This cycle has led to the unprecedented centralization of power we see today. In the so-called “land of the free,” we now live under the largest government in history – a stark reminder of what happens when we ignore the Founders’ wisdom and warnings.
If we truly value liberty, we must reject the temptation to tolerate power grabs, even when they seem beneficial in the short term.
As Samuel Adams wrote, “All might be free if they valued freedom and defended it as they ought.”
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