R. Patrick Shaw
Alexander Meikeljohn
I. Strangely enough, after a word such under Alexander Meikeljohn on the internet, and in infolinks in the library, I was only able to uncover minimal biographical information on Meikeljohn. In fact, I could not even find him in the encyclopedia. Perhaps this is in part due to his lower name recognition than many of the other writers we have studied. However, I still have plenty to write on from his works that could be found in the library. Saying that he was a writer and professor through most of his lifetime is sufficient and that he was constantly pursuing further education throughout his life. Meikeljohn lived from 1872 to 1964.
Like all of the free speech authors we have studied, Alexander Meikeljohn was a prolific writer throughout his life. Perhaps his best known work is Political Freedom first published in 1948. We will also examine another work titled Free Speech And Its Relation To Self-Govennment, published in 1948. Political Freedom contains two sections, the first is Free Speech, which is examined independently, and the second is The Freedom of the Electorate that will be examined under the heading Political Freedom. Finally, another work is recommended for your perusal, although space and time will not permit me to go into in this format: Meikeljohn's What does America Mean.
I I .Political Freedom
A. The Declaration of American Independence and the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America pledge themselves to two assertions: "Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed" and that "We the People of the United States . . . do ordain and establish this Constitution . . ." (Quotes from the original documents in Political Freedom pgs. 93-94).
B. The question of "Who are The People of the United States was never directly dealt with by the Constitutional Convention. On the contrary, that most important of all issues concerning Freedom was referred to the several states, to be dealt with by each of them in their own particular manner."
C. Meikeljohn asserts he wishes he could change the title of Free Speech to cover, by exclusion and inclusion, the list of those activities whose freedom the First Amendment protects.
D. "The words Freedom of Speech are both too narrow and too wide in their reference to indicate the scope of the great charter of our political freedom. Many activities whose freedom the amendment protects, are not 'forms of speech.' And there are many 'forms of speech' about whose freedom the amendment has no concern. (Gee, which one's are those Big Al?) To fix our attention, as we commonly do, upon the 'right to speak' is to lose sight of the essential issue." (Political Freedom pgs. 95-96)
E. We should say that the Constitution establishes "political freedom" over "freedom to speak" as the basis of "any arrangement by which men may govern themselves, rather than submit to a despotic control by others." (Political Freedom pg. 96)
F. Meikeljohn asserts that throughout the arguments of Madison and Hamilton in the Federalist, "there runs a subtle and powerful insistence on the need of limiting legislative power." (pg. 102)
III. Five opinions on the issue of political freedom.
A. "The commonly urged identification of Constitutional freedom with the freedom of business enterprise is an illusion which could be entertained only in a society which is too busy in seeking success to give time or energy to finding out what success is." (pg. 163)
B. "As judged by our response to the opportunities and obligations of political freedom, we Americans are not, en effect, a competent body-politic. On the contrary, we are, in many of our moods an unintelligent and ungovernable mob." (pg. 163)
C. "It is not true that the best government is the one which governs least. There is much more truth in the maxim 'Eternal Vigilance is the price of Freedom (Liberty).' No nation can be free unless it is strong enough and active enough to control, whenever necessary, every private individual or group whose action affects the general welfare." (pg. 163)
D. "We do not understand what a free government is when we interpret its making and administering of laws as merely repressive, as merely limiting the actions of men. All the repressive and regulatory activities of the Constitution are incidental and secondary features of a creative, constructive undertaking, namely, that of which its Preamble speaks." (pgs. 163-164)
E. "Our greatest present disloyalty to the Constitution lies in the fact that we do not study and criticize it as did the men who devised and adopted it. They met novel and desperate situations by establishing unheard-of and revolutionary forms of government. We too are facing novel and desperate situations. Shall we do as they did, or shall we hate and fear those who follow their example? In the practical answering of that question it will be revealed whether the American experiment in freedom is still going on or has already been abandoned."
IV. Free Speech And Its Relation To Self-Government
A. Americans, by means of the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble of the Constitution entered into a social contract which the successive generations assent to yet change its meanings with the changing contexts of different times. (Perhaps this is why we see throughout the years the variances of Judicial Interpretation of the Constitution and its Amendments.)
B. "We should never forqet that the freedoms secured by that Amendment (the first)- speech press, religion, petition, and assembly - are absolutely indispensable for the preservation of a free society in which government is based upon the consent of an informed citizenry and is dedicated to the protection of the rights of all, even the most despised minorities." We do not debar Congress from all action upon the freedom of speech. Legislation that abridges that freedom is forbidden, but not legislation to enlarge and enrich it. D. "It is the mutilation of the thinking process of the community against which the First Amendment to the Constitution is directed. The principle of the freedom of speech springs from the necessities of the program of selfqovernment." (p. 27)
V. Six charges on Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes' Clear and Present danger theory
A. "First, the theory denies or obscures the fact that free citizens have two distinct sets of civii liberties. As the makers of the laws, they have duties and responsibilities which require an absolute freedom. As the subjects of the laws, they have possessions and rights, to which belongs a relative freedom." (pg. 76)
B. "Second, the theory fails to k>