People's Law: Where Did It Come From Part 1

In my first post about the topic of People's Law, I discussed the reason why the other two major systems of government failed and why there was a need for a totally different type of governing system. I'm going to take just a bit here to recap why the Founding Fathers saw a need to develop a system of government that was run by the people and for the people.

The type of government that the American colonies were under before the Revolution was Ruler's Law, or a monarchy. A monarchy is a faulty system because it puts all aspects of the country under the rule of one man. That one man has absolute power and can make any type of legislation he or she sees fit to institute and push on the people. This type of power often led to leaders becoming drunk with power and greed, which in turn made them very oppressive to the people they ruled. High taxes, unfair laws, and a denial of property ownership are often results of a monarchy.

Monarchies also do not work because as Thomas Paine said, no man is perfect and thus since he is no better than the next, no one man should rule another. Due to the oppressive nature of monarchies people tend to swing to the complete opposite end of the spectrum which is just as bad. This would be called anarchy, and this means there isn't any law or government at all. This can very, very dangerous as there are no restrictions what people can do including the violation of the rights of others.

As you can see both extremes on the spectrum are evil, so there must be a system somewhere in the middle that will be a perfect balance between the two extremes. This is called People's Law. A system that was governed by laws and principles in a written constitution rather than the whims of men. A government that was run by the people, whose sole purpose was to protect the Constitution and the rights of the individual, rather than ruling them. Maximum freedom with the least amount of government interference. THAT is what America is supposed to be all about.

Origins Of People's Law In The Old Testament

Thomas Jefferson was one of the most influential Founders in our countries history. Jefferson was extremely fascinated by the history of ancient Israel as told in the Old Testament. Jefferson was a very highly educated individual and had spent a lot of time studying both the New Testament and Old Testament parts of the Bible.

One of the most fascinating stories for Jefferson was the story of how God delivered the Israelites from Pharaoh (Ruler's Law) and Egypt. In chapter 18 of Exodus we have the people of Israel freshly liberated from Ruler's Law in Egypt and Moses has taken full command over all the people. This of course meant that they were once again under Ruler's Law.

The problem began when Moses wasn't able to govern the people effectively due to the large population. He was dealing with court cases all day and STILL not effectively meeting the needs of the people. Jethro, Moses' father in law came to save the day.

Jethro suggested that they divide the people up into groups or families. Each group and family would elect a leader. They were divided into multiple sized groups and each group elected a leader to govern them.

All the leader would be in charge of hearing the cases and governing the laws of each of the families and groups. Only the major cases would go to Moses himself. They were a free people who governed themselves. Throughout history, whenever the Israelites enslaved others they were given a reprimand. God never intended us to be ruled by any other King but Himself. We are to be governed by laws and principles, while the government protects our rights and freedom.

In the next part I will sum up the components that made up the Israeli people's law system, and go over the other culture that inspired the Founders to adopt this type of governing system.