THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY
This Short Talk Bulletin has been adapted from a speech given at the Grand
Lodge of Alaska in February, 1987, by M.W. Brother George W. Baldwin, Past Grand
Master, Grand Lodge of British Columbia. We thank M.W. Brother Baldwin for
sharing these "cross the border" thoughts with us.
This year, 1987, marks the 200th anniversary of the drafting and ratification
of the United States Constitution by those thirteen former colonies, which
eleven years earlier had joined in their Declaration of Independence from Great
Britain. Incidentally, there were those other American colonies in existence at
that time, which chose to remain loyal, and of course, they laid the foundation
from which Canada, the largest, geographically speaking, democratic nation in
the world developed. I want to draw your attention to those events of 1787, and
in particular, to some of the language used.
The Preamble to the Constitution is a masterpiece of concise writing, and is
generally believed to have been the work of Gouverneur Morris, a delegate from
Pennsylvania to the Constitutional Convention. Even though you may be well
acquainted with it, let me read it to you again: ''We the people of the United
States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure
domestic tranquility provide for the common defense, promote the general
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do
ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States.''
I would ask you to pay particular attention to the phrase, "to secure the
blessing of liberty." I do not want to dwell at length on what those blessings
are, or attempt to find a definition for them, for I think that each one of us,
if so asked, would produce a different list. Perhaps Thomas Jefferson came as
close as any, to a satisfactory definition, when he wrote, in the Declaration of
July 4, 1776: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
But how are those rights to be "secured"? The Constitution, as originally
drafted, did not spell out any particular rights, nor any rules for securing
them. The first ten amendments, known ever after as "The Bill of Rights," were
not proposed until 1789, nor adopted until 1791.1 mention this, because it is of
importance to us as Freemasons, that likewise there is not mention made of any
duties or responsibilities, insofar as the individual citizen is concerned,
either in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, or, for that matter, in the
Canadian Constitution and its Charter of Rights and Freedoms. My proposition
tonight is that those rights, that our freedoms, that the blessings of liberty
can only be secured when the individual citizen recognizes and acts upon his or
her own sense of duty and responsibility.
I also venture to suggest that this is in direct accord with the principles
of Freemasonry. To illustrate this, let me share with you part of our Canadian
masonic ritual, where we are told that the chief point in Freemasonry is "to
endeavor to be happy ourselves, and to communicate that happiness to others." In
this sentence, the word "happiness" must be taken in the wider meaning of the
18th century and coincides with the meaning used by Jefferson.
We are also taught in our Canadian ritual, that the ritual is intended to
carry into active practice the four cardinal virtues: Temperance, Fortitude,
Prudence and Justice, combined with the theological virtues--Faith, Hope and
Charity-thereby demonstrating to the world at large that in Freemasonry there is
found the true import of the three great social treasures: Fraternity, Liberty
and Equality.
Let us turn for a moment to consider the men who sat in their hot stuffy
meeting room in Philadelphia throughout that summer of 1787. The presiding
officer of the Convention was Bro. George Washington. I am sure that when he
considered "securing the blessings of liberty," he had no illusions as to his
responsibilities. He had amply demonstrated, over the preceding 10 or 11 years,
that he was prepared to contribute his all to the cause of liberty as he saw it.
Yet, he was a reasonably prosperous land-owner in Virginia, he was well
connected with the aristocracy and governing class in that Commonwealth, and he
could quite easily and justifiably have remained at home in Mount Vernon that
summer, and let some one else do the work for a change. But such was not his
nature. As a patriot and as a Freemason, he saw where his duty lay, and he took
up the responsibility of seeing that the blessings of liberty were secured to
his fellow countrymen, not only in Virginia, but throughout the new nation that
was then being created. It is interesting to note that for a time, Washington
seriously considered not attending the Convention in Philadelphia that summer
long ago, for very valid political reasons, but he was ultimately persuaded to
attend by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Edmund Randolph, and by his
especial friend, General Henry Knox.
Another Freemason who could easily have been excused from attendance at the
Convention, on account of age and health, was Bro. Benjamin Franklin of
Pennsylvania. He was then over 70 years old, within three years of his own
death, and had certainly proved his loyalty to the cause of liberty, over and
over again. He suffered from gout and stone, and had to come to the State House,
where the Convention met, in a sedan chair which he had bought in Paris, as it
was the only mode of transportation that did not jostle him painfully. Yet, he
came, because he knew it was his duty to do so. And we should all remember that
it was Franklin, early in the Convention, when it seemed that the rival factions
from the different colonies would never reach any basis for agreement, moved
that every morning the session be opened by prayer to the Most High for His
guidance. Franklin's duty lay not only to his fellow citizens, but to his Maker,
and he saw that prayer to God was the first step to be taken in securing the
blessings of liberty. These are just two examples. I am sure there are many
more, but I use these to point up that the absence of any mention of "duty" in
the Constitution was not an oversight. It just did not occur to men such as
Washington and Franklin, as well as the others there present, that the rest of
us needed to have it spelled out for us.
When the Constitution had been drafted, it was sent to the Continental
Congress, accompanied by a letter, written in the hand of Morris, but signed by
Washington. In it, Morris wrote: "Individuals entering into society, must give
up a share of liberty to preserve the rest. The magnitude of the sacrifice must
depend as well on situation and circumstance, as on the object to be obtained.
It is at all times difficult to draw with precision the line between those
rights which must be surrendered, and those which may be reserved.''
So, let us now ask where we stand in 1987, and what we, each one of us, is
doing to secure the blessings of liberty. Which of our rights are we prepared to
surrender in order to preserve our freedom? Or, in other words, what duty will
we assume and discharge, in order to secure the blessings of liberty? Let us not
forget the duties which we assumed when we entered the bonds of Freemasonry, the
duties which we owe to God, to our countries, and to ourselves. We discharge
those duties, and so secure the blessings of liberty, when we set about to
practice those cardinal and theological virtues which I mentioned earlier. We
secure those blessings not only for ourselves, but for our whole nation, yours
and mine, by the manner in which we act as citizens, as individuals, as children
of a common Father, and as brethren one of another.
I would like to leave you with a little poem that was recently printed in Ann
Landers' column in our local newspaper in Prince George. It was attributed to an
88-year old resident of the Masonic Homes at Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and is
entitled "Definition of a Real Man"-
One who has self-confidence but does not show it;
One who can be courteous in the face of discourtesy;
One who keeps his word, his temper, his friends;
One who wins respect by being respectable and respectful;
One who has a steady eye, a steady nerve, a steady tongue, and steady habits;
One who is silent when he has nothing to say;
One who is calm when he judges, and humble when he misjudges.
May I suggest to each of you, that if we take that poem to heart, that if we
accept and discharge our duties and responsibilities in this world, that if we
live by the principles of our Masonic order, then we may join in spirit with
Washington, Franklin, Morris, and those others who labored throughout that hot
Philadelphia summer 200 years ago, to secure the blessings of liberty for
ourselves and for our posterity.
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