The Key To Peace by Clarence Manion, Dean of Notre Dame Law is republished

Book Review ^ | 96 | National Lawyers Association

[mairseydotes]

"Dean Clarence Manion, the Dean of the College of Law at Notre Dame University for more than a quarter of a century, in his book The Key to Peace defined this "government" as follows:

Constitutions and Bills of Right are but vain and futile barricades against tyranny unless, as our Declaration of Independence says-they are firmly founded in and upon the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God."

Dean Manion, in his book also made the following observation:

In both "form" and "substance" our American system is basically different from any politically organized society now or heretofore existing in the world.

The "rights," namely the unalienable rights of each person in the land, constitute the "substance" of American government. The "device" by which these rights can be secured is the American "form" of government. The conjunction of this "form" and this "substance" was unique and new in Jefferson's time and it is completely unique today.

A Republican form of government strictly and constitutionally dedicated to the protection of the God-given unalienable rights of men appeared in the world for the first time with the organization of the United States of America This "form" was then and there composed and designed to hold and contain its precious substance. (Emphasis added.)

For the first time in the history of the world there was placed in the document establishing a nation the concept that the government being established for the new nation was to be a government with limited powers; a government that had no authority to supersede or contradict the Laws of Nature: a government that was charged with the responsibility of securing the God-endowed unalienable rights of the individual. Yet, and this is extremely important, the document made no reference to any religion. The officeholders in the government were to recognize and honor the principles and truths set forth in the document establishing the government but these truths and principles were to be considered as "self evident" and not part of any religion. The Founding Fathers did not intend to establish a totalitarian government nor did they intend to establish a government into which a religion was intermingled. They intended to establish a government based upon self-evident truths. They accomplished this in the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration had two purposes: (1) give a justification to the world for its previous actions in separating from Great Britain and (2) take the first step in creating a government with limited powers -- establish its unchangeable foundation. "

[mairseydotes]

I have a copy of this book and it is a very good read. I found the book to be very timely. It has since been republished. http://www.traditionalcatholicart.com/manion.html