Progressives believe that a dogmatic opinion of the Constitution as a fixed document
requires not only the suspension of advanced knowledge collected over
time, but also a bizarre acquiescence to illiberal opinions from centuries past.
Treating the Constitution this way would mean reviving the Founders’ original
intent regarding slavery and excluding most men and all women from voting and
other forms of democratic life. (Progressive: Founding: 6)
The colonists complained most famously that they were required to pay new taxes imposed upon them by institutions that did not include representatives from the colonies. It is important to note
that the colonists were not opposed to taxation as a general rule, but to taxation
imposed by nonrepresentative institutions.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Progressivism has always been about
the search for liberty, equality, and happiness for all within a system of democratic
government and social and economic opportunity. 8
Yet early progressives recognized as the nation’s economic situation changed
that the original ends of Jeffersonian thought would have to be adapted to new
forms of government. As Dewey wrote, “[T]he interests originally represented by
Jefferson…have now changed places with respect to exercise of federal power. For
Jeffersonian principles of self-government, of the prime authority of the people, of
general happiness or welfare as the end of government, can be appealed to in support
of policies that are opposite to those urged by Jefferson in his day.”9/14
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