The Danite Constitution and Theories of Democratic Justice in Frontier America

Authors

Benjamin E. Park

Keywords

BYU Studies, justice, democracy, Danite Constitution

Abstract

Most modern Americans define liberty as the freedom to do things: freedom to speak, freedom to congregate, freedom to vote, freedom to worship. That is, we define it in proactive terms. But in early America, many citizens were just as likely to define liberty as freedom from things: freedom not to be taxed without representation, freedom not to be unjustly imprisoned, or freedom not to be oppressed. In other words, they defined it in preventive terms. And among Americans in the 1830s, per- haps the most poignant political discussion concerned the freedom to not be forcibly removed from the land on which they lived. That such a question was at the forefront of political discourse demonstrated the tumultuous nature of rights and liberties in an age of expansion and colonization.1

Recommended Citation

Park, Benjamin E. (2021) "The Danite Constitution and Theories of Democratic Justice in Frontier America," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 60: Iss. 1, Article 3.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol60/iss1/3