7. Freedom from illegal search of persons, houses, papers or effects (Fourth Amendment)
8. Freedom from prosecution without due process of law (Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments)
9. Freedom from multiple prosecutions for the same offense (Fifth Amendment)
10. Freedom from the necessity of testifying against one’s self (Fifth Amendment)
11. Freedom from imprisonment without a speedy and public trial (Sixth Amendment)
12. Freedom from excessive bail, excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishments (Eighth Amendment)
13. Freedom from slavery or involuntary servitude (Thirteenth Amendment added in 1865)
14. Freedom to vote regardless of race or sex (Fifteenth Amendment added in 1870 and the Nineteenth Amendment added in 1920)
Ninth: Social and political reform along liberal lines was encouraged within the various states. While serving as governor of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson led the way by encouraging public education, dividing church and state, breaking down the medieval laws of inheritance to prevent monopoly of land and wealth, advocating the emancipation of slaves, prohibiting the importation of slaves, revising the criminal laws, suggesting representation according to population; declaring the right to vote should be extended to all men who might be subject to military duty and not merely to landowners; encouraging self-government in the counties and towns of the state.
Tenth: The Civil War established the sovereignty of the Federal Government as the dominant authority of the Union (from which individual states could not secede and against which individual states could not pass conflicting laws.) This gave solidarity to the United States and a uniformity among the states which had been previously disputed. The Civil War also opened the way for the emancipation of all men living within its boundaries.
Eleventh: Down through the yeasts “promotional” legislation was passed to promote the general welfare of all citizens by encouraging interstate transportation, transcontinental communications, colonization, of public lands, cheap postal service, development of waterways and resources.
Twelfth: “Restrictive” legislation was passed for the purpose of protecting the individual citizen against various systems which began to encroach upon his welfare. Anti-trust legislation was passed to restrict the activities of monopolies in business and preserve free enterprise. Labor legislation was passed to fix responsibility for union leadership. Anti-crime legislation was passed to protect the citizens against organized underworld forces.
Thus, a whole new pattern of human government has been born among men. It is a political framework designed to keep the ultimate control of the government in the hands of the people who live under that government. It is an expression of political philosophy which makes it possible for men to protect themselves against the expanding power of man-made systems. It is a government of the people, by the people, for the people. It is the gradual unfolding of six centuries of true liberalism.
Results of 175 Years of American Liberalism
The encouragement of private initiative and self-determination and the protection of the individual citizen from the encroachment of man-made systems have now had 175 years to prove themselves. Did the liberation of the citizen from the systems of the past prove beneficial?
The United States, like all new countries, started poor in capital and badly in debt. Although other nations have often had equal access to natural resources, the United States slowly but consistently forged ahead. Today, with only 7 percent of the world’s population and 6 percent of the earth’s territory, the United States has acquired through peaceful industry nearly 50 percent of the world’s developed wealth. Each year its citizens grow, build, sell, buy and use more goods and services than any other country in existence.
With a population of 180 million (1962) the U.S. has succeeded in approaching the economists’ dream of total employment by providing jobs for 63 people while approximately 37 million of its youth been enrolled in school. Each year the people of the United States spend more than 200 billion dollars on personal goods and services. This means a per capita income of $1,453 which is twice the per capita income in Britain, five times the per capita income in Russia, and seven times the per capita income in Italy.
According to the American Automobile Association, the people of the United States spend more than 9 billion dollars vacations each year. Individual savings amount to 17 billion dollars annually, and 3 out of 4 families are covered by life insurance. Of the 50 million dwelling units in the nation, 60 percent are occupied by their owners. The millions of acres of developed farm land produce more food than its citizens can eat. The productive capacity of the United States is the largest in the world. It owns 30 percent of the world’s railroad mileage, 76 percent of its automobiles, 51 percent of its trucks, 47 percent of its radios, 42 percent of the electric power output, and 47 percent of its steel.
Each year the United States produces 51 percent of the world’s output of petroleum and about 30 percent of its coal. The U.S. merchant fleets have replaced Britain’s as the rulers of the seas with the greatest volume of foreign trade.{227}
The Pattern for Abundant Living
World travelers or people who have lived abroad can appreciate the abundant living of the United States better than the average American. The table on the opposite page illustrates how little time it takes an American citizen to earn the necessities of life and why he is able to spend so much of his income on travel and items of commerce which foreign citizens would call luxuries. This table shows how many minutes the average citizen of leading countries must work to pay for one pound of the various items listed.{228}
| Food | U.S. | France | Germany | Ireland | Italy | Norway | Sweden | Russia |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 lb. Wheat Flour | 4 | 20 | 15 | 6 | 15 | 6 | 18 | 27 |
| 1 lb. Macaroni | 8 | - | - | - | 20 | 17 | - | 45 |
| 1 lb. Rice | 6 | 33 | - | - | 17 | 17 | 16 | 91 |
| 1 lb. Bread | 6 | 9 | 12 | 8 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| 1 lb. Beef | 31 | 126 | - | 72 | 128 | 58 | - | 132 |
| 1 lb. Pork Chops | 32 | 91 | 87 | 68 | 124 | 59 | 97 | 220 |
| 1 lb. Veal | 48 | 120 | 94 | - | - | 48 | 100 | - |
| 1 lb. Leg of Lamb | 31 | 133 | - | 76 | - | 61 | 85 | 140 |
| 1 lb. Fish | 18 | 33 | 31 | 42 | 55 | 18 | - | 135 |
| 1 lb. Butter | 30 | 135 | 150 | 83 | 162 | 63 | 115 | 270 |
| 1 lb. Cheese | 22 | 140 | - | 60 | 109 | 38 | 35 | - |
| 1 lb. Fresh Milk | 8 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 20 | 9 | 12 | 42 |
| 1 lb. Eggs | 32 | 118 | 125 | 109 | 126 | 82 | 97 | 187 |
| 1 lb. Fresh Apples | 4 | 19 | 16 | - | - | - | 9 | 89 |
| 1 lb. Cabbage | 2 | 7 | - | - | - | 5 | 6 | 37 |
| 1 lb. Carrots | 5 | 9 | 8 | - | - | 12 | 7 | 9 |
| 1 lb. Potatoes | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
| 1 lb. Oleomargarine | 13 | 64 | 39 | 55 | - | 19 | - | 152 |
| 1 lb. Sugar | 4 | 21 | 21 | 9 | 37 | 7 | 14 | 110 |