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As we look back on 250 years of the American experiment, it’s significant to recognize the importance of the legal system we inherited from the Founders. In their wisdom, they created a system that allows us to defend our rights centuries after the creation of our country.
The Founders recognized the importance of creating a system that deals with people as they are, not in their idealized form. “If men were angels, no government would be necessary,” James Madison wrote in Federalist 51, and the country would need neither “external nor internal controls on government.” Recognizing that this is not reality, Madison and our other Founders crafted a system designed to prevent government overreach and preserve our foundational constitutional rights.
Two key elements of the legal system the Founders created are the separation of powers and the rule of law. Recognizing that ambition must be made to check ambition, the Founders created three branches of government, each designed to serve as a check against the other. They recognized the need for a politically insulated judiciary, with courts shielded from political pressure to disregard the law in favor of popular passions. To check the ambition of men, the Founders envisioned a system where the rule of law, not of man, would govern all equally. In doing so, they provided us with an enduring gift that allows citizens to oppose government overreach and vindicate the very rights that unite us as Americans.
At the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, we recognize our solemn duty to preserve our Constitution and protect the rights of citizens in Michigan and across the country. The system we have inherited empowered us to overturn Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s unconstitutional COVID policies and restore the separation of powers to Michigan’s government.
Thanks to this system, we’ve been able to stand up for citizens and public officials who have faced censorship or retaliation for speaking out against government. It has allowed us to fight for property rights, government transparency, educational and free speech rights, and to oppose coercive government unions in Michigan and across the country. We owe a debt to both our Founders and our supporters for enabling us to continue to defend the rights that help define us as Americans, whether in 1776 or 250 years later.
