Linda K. Kerber Quotes
Citizenship is basic to all other claims which individuals make on the state, or the state makes upon them.
Linda K. Kerber, Historian & President of the Organization of American Historians and the American Studies Association, No Constitutional Right to Be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship, 1998
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This is just the opposite of the American Democracy in which the government serves the citizens rather than the Fascist opposite notion.
The call for individual liberty and the right of personal property by clergy is surprising to many. This Cahier was the consensus of the Clergy of Blois in 1789. There were cahiers of several provinces of France—some by the clergy, some by the nobles. What is fascinating is the emergence of many of the pre-Revolutionary French concepts. The example of the American revolution and its principles was known throughout the educated classes of France.
This is a very important political, historical, and philosophical quotation. This is a view that is very common amongst many Americans—especially those who are religious. As a factual matter, it is not clear that ALL the founding fathers personally believed in the creator--God. All the views have never been discerned. However it is almost certain that the majority of the Founders so believed. The complication with taking this viewpoint too literally is that while our rights may have come from God, it is men who determined exactly what rights would be enumerated on our constitution. For example. the original draft of the Constitution did not include, the right to a free press, the right of due process, the right of being free from religious compulsion and others. Yet it passed. Then other men and women wanted more rights added and the Constitution was ratified on condition that the Bill or Rights would be incorporated as the first 10 amendments. There were other rights that were not explicitly mentioned. For example, there is no right to an education mentioned in the Constitution or any of the amendments. Blacks had no rights until additional amendments were passed. And later there was an amendment that denied Americans the right to drink alcohol. Then another that gave the rights back. There are rights that other nations have which we do not—ie the right to medical care. Which if these did God grant and which, not? So even if we assume that every one of the founding fathers not only believed in God, but believed the rights were all God given, we would still be in the practical dilemma of having to specify the language of each right and always to, by amendment, adding additional rights or modifying or even deleting older rights. Many believe that Americans were divinely inspired when we added (or changed) rights. Others, not. However, regardless, we must go through the same procedures of enumerating American rights and amending the constitution. So the process is the same for both those who believe that our rights come from God and those who do not. To change rights, we need the action of Americans divinely inspired or otherwise, but they can and have been changed. For example, before 1963 Americans did not have a right to use birth control devices. After the Supreme Court Griswald v. Conn. We did and now have a right to use birth control devices. The mode that rights are manifested, defined, enumerated and implemented is a political one—one that in our American system allows us all to implement that system whether or not we believe that our rights come from our Creator.
The Dutch had a specific view that the more affluent or educated citizens had more obligations to society and duties than others less fortunate or talented. Modern America recognizes this general concept by means of having a progressive income tax, but America and almost no other nations have this concept of progressive duties of citizenship.
Linda Kaufman Kerber is an American feminist, a political and intellectual historian, and educator who specializes in the history and development of the democratic mind in America, and the history of women in America.
