A Catholic reflection on the American experiment:

July 4^th celebrates the birth of the United States of America. This nation was born with the signing of the Declaration of Independence on this date in 1776. The labor process for this new nation was intense with a revolutionary war, an initial and fairly unsuccessful government under the Articles of Confederation, and finally a difficult process to establish a constitutional government. Finally by 1788 the process had reached its completion and the American experiment was truly born.

If we are to reflect on the American experiment as an organization then we must look at the Constitution as the by-laws of this nation. The Constitution explains to us how this nation is to be governed. Every organization requires a mission statement and a vision that establishes how the organization identifies itself and its purpose within society. A government also requires a vision to establish a particular identity for its people within the larger family of nations. This is precisely what we honor on the 4^th of July. It is not just that we are Americans or that we fought a war for independence. July 4^th reminds us of who we are as a people and what we believe in as a nation. The great American Catholic moralist Fr. John Courtney Murray, in his seminal work “We Hold these Truths,” described the essential dimension of our own American identity in this way:

On its most imperative level the public argument within the City and about the City’s affairs begins with the agreement that there is a reality called, in the phrase of Leo XIII,” patrimonium generis humani,” a heritage of an essential truth, a tradition of rational belief, that sustains the structure of the City and furnishes the substance of civil life. It was to this patrimony that the Declaration of Independence referred: “These are the truths we hold.” This is the first utterance of a people. By it a people establishes its identity, and under decent respect to the opinions of mankind declares its purposes within the community of nations.

This famous book by Fr. Murray integrated what he called the American experiment or project as stated in the Declaration of Independence with Catholic theological doctrine through the natural law framework which he considered to be the moral basis for the principles outlined in the Declaration. Fr. Murray’s thesis was not a mere conjecture, the Declaration places these values within the natural law in its first paragraph: “When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary… to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitled them.” Catholic doctrine accepts the natural law as a basis for morality since God is the author of both revelation and reason and so the principles of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness are consistent with the social teachings of the church.

Within these three principles it is safe to suggest that a hierarchy of values exist with them. Life is primary. Without the value of life it is pointless to defend the value of liberty or the pursuit of happiness. Once we have accepted this logical assertion we can then reflect on the relationship between the values of liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In the famous documentary on Thomas Jefferson by Ken Burns a number of American scholars reflect on the uneasy relationship between these two values. Joseph Ellis who is the Ford Foundation Professor of History offered this thought:

They are the essential words of the American creed. And part of Jefferson’s genius was to articulate at a sufficiently abstract level, these principles, these truths that we all want to believe in. The level is sufficiently abstract so that we don’t have to notice that these truths are at some level unattainable and at another level mutually exclusive. Perfect freedom doesn’t lead to perfect equality, it usually leads to inequality. But Jefferson’s genius is to assert them at a level of abstraction where they have a kind of rhapsodic inspirational quality. And we all agree not to notice, not to notice that they are unattainable and not to notice that they are mutually exclusive or contradictory.     

Based on this reflection on the American creed and the belief that these values are not only good secular values but that they are indeed sacred values then I would offer the opinion that the partisan reality of our American experience, while messy and at times frustrating, may be essential. Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness are found in the doctrine of Catholic social teaching under the principles of freedom and the common. We agree that there is a sacred individual dignity which we all have, however we also believe that we all share that dignity and sacred relationship in common as well. To promote the principle of pursuing happiness is to promote the opportunity that all of us ought to have in attaining a good that we can all share as a community. The American Catholic experiment is to keep a check and balance between the values of liberty/freedom and the pursuit of happiness/common good.

It is between these two mutually exclusive truths that are American partisan political system began. On the one hand you had Alexander Hamilton whose politics tended towards economic and individual liberty. The Federalist party that he and John Adams began would be the parent of the American conservative tradition. Thomas Jefferson on the other hand developed an American policy based on social justice and communal democracy. The Democratic-Republican Party that he and James Madison started would be the parent of the American progressive tradition. Times have changed and the American experiment has adapted to take on the contemporary issues related to globalization but the struggle between these contradictory values continue. Democrats tend to favor the pursuit of happiness and they promote the issues of social justice and the promotion of democracy. Republicans tend to favor the protection of liberty and they continue to pursue an economic agenda that liberalizes the market and individual civil rights.

As we celebrate this Fourth of July let us take some time to appreciate the mutually exclusive values of liberty and pursuit of happiness. What will continue to make this nation great will be our ongoing ability to keep these contradictory but sacred values in a tense but functional relationship with each other.

One Response to “A Catholic reflection on the American experiment:”

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