Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

The United States Constitution is this nation's most important export. From its inception its influence has been felt throughout the world. Even where that influence has not resulted in democracy and freedom, it has still brought the hope of, in Abraham Lincoln's words, "government of, by and for the people."

The story of that influence is a story worth telling. The protagonists of this story, America's Founding Fathers, were constitutional proselytizers. The constitution they had written was a unique breakthrough in the ever-continuing struggle for human freedom and liberty-and they knew it. The Founding Fathers wanted every nation to have a constitution, if not exactly the same as their Philadelphia Constitution, then as close to it as possible.

This proselytizing spirit originated from the earliest days of the Revolution. These early Americans had always believed they were accomplishing something of worldwide significance. Our Founding Fathers had convinced themselves they were creating a new Eden, not only for America, but for all mankind. They had a story to tell and a message to deliver. In the words of historian Henry Steele Commager: "[The Founding Fathers] embraced, with a kind of exultation, this opportunity to set the standards and provide the models that others would of necessity follow." 1 For example, Thomas Jefferson looked upon the United States Constitution as a standing monument, an enduring model for the peoples of other countries aspiring to establish democracies of their own.2 John Adams was convinced that American ideas would spread liberty and enlightenment everywhere in the world.3 Alexander Hamilton thought it had been reserved to the American people to decide whether societies of men were really capable of establishing good government and James Madison believed that posterity would forever be indebted to the Founding Fathers for the Constitution itself and for the example provided.

So it was that America's constitutional proselytizers set out to teach the world why and, more importantly, how constitutions should be written. Their principal students were the French, and possibly the best of the students was Lafayette. Jefferson frequently counseled the French leaders during their revolution and also edited drafts of the famous Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. French scholars also gathered around Gouverneur Morris, the principal "technical" draftsman of the United States Constitution, when he visited Paris in February 1789 to do some legal work for his Philadelphia clients. Morris recommended a number of changes in Lafayette's declaration and suggested that its author was "too republican" for France.

But it was not only the French who felt our Founding Fathers' influence. After all, the world's second constitution was promulgated not in France, but in Poland.5 A perusal of the Polish charter, beginning with its Preamble, confirms the influence of the Philadelphia model.6 There are also records of American constitutional consultations with German, Austrian, Belgian, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese scholars, as well as leaders from the new world.

Americans continue to be constitutional proselytizers. Whether or not we know what our Constitution contains, we know that it is good and we continue to "sell" the Philadelphia Constitution. This is our greatest dogma. The United States Information Agency is working overtime this the Bicentennial year to bring foreign scholars here and to send American scholars abroad to preach American constitutionalism.

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