Fisher Aimes; G. Wolfe

Another outstanding historic de fender of ordered liberty is the French economist, statesman and author, Frederic Bastiat. Writing at the time of the Revolutions of 1848, Mr. Wolfe .. completing hi. undergredu.'e 81udle. e' HHI••1e Colle... In Machlg.n. Bastiat combatted the socialist fal lacies which were threatening to take over European society. Both in such written works as The Law, and in his role as statesman, Bastiat up held the principles of limited· gov ernment, private property, and the market economy. In the context of early American history, and especially the founding of the United States, two of the best known proponents of a free economy were Pelatiah Webster and Thomas Jefferson. Webster warned Ameri cans that inflation would destroy the economy by increasing the money supply without a corresponding growth in production, and thus debase the currency to worthless ness. And Jefferson is often quoted as saying that individuals compet ing freely in the marketplace will 371 372 THE FREEMAN June help bring about a prosperous com monwealth.

But there is an American of the generation of the Founding Fathers who had read and understood the theoretical principles of the free market as expounded by Adam Smith, and, like Bastiat, had acted out these principles in the realm of politics. He is one of out forgotten defenders of ordered liberty, and de serves the attention of all serious students of the free society. Fisher Ames, of Dedham in Massachusetts, was a lifelong champion of private property, and of an economy un hampered by government interven tion. Educational Background Born of a family long settled in New England, Fisher Ames received a superior. early education, being steeped in the classics and a thorough knowledge of antiquity. Ames was admitted to Harvard Col lege at the age of twelve and soon gained a reputation for his oratori cal skills. After studying under one of Boston's leading lawyers, Ames joined the bar and rose to promi nence in Massachusetts politics. He was sent to the Concord Convention which met during the Revolution to regulate prices, and also to the Mas sachusetts Ratifying Convention, which debated the newly-framed Constitution. Later, Ames was elected to the first two sessions of the Congress of the United States, and participated in the writing ·of the First Amendment and in struc turing the· American government.

Fisher Ames's career in Congress was short, for as Russell Kirk has pointed out, Ames ~~was many years dying."l Plagued by illness most of his life, Ames was a melancholy man who had a pessimistic outlook on America's future. Yet, his was a penetrating intellect, and his warn ings about the ~~dangers to American liberty" (as he phrased it) now carry a prophetic ring. In his later years, Ames set his ideas down in numer ous essays, and this legacy shows a man who deserves to be recognized as one of the greatest advocates of the free society in American history. Ames's ideas on politics and eco nomics were formed during the tumultuous years at the close of the 18th century. It was during this period in Ames's native Mas sachusetts that such events as Shays' Rebellion forced men to come to grips with the relation ofthe state to society. In 1786 a number of rural inhabitants of western Mas sachusetts, aggravated by rigid fi nancial policies and falling agricul tural prices, prevented the meeting of the county court houses as a form of protest. Shays and his followers acted under the assumption that in dividuals had an inherent right to forceful protest. This anarchic at titude frightened and outraged 1980 FISHER AMES: FORGO'ITEN DEFENDER OF LIBERTY 373 Ames and convinced him of the need for a state which would protect the rights of individual citizens. Ames thus came to the same conclusion that the Founding Fathers would reach: only through a limited but competent government could the in dividual's rights be protected from force or fraud.

Though Ames was convinced that government was needed to prevent anarchy in society, he by no means envisioned a state which intervened in the economy or the private affairs of citizens. To be sure, Ames felt the state should be vigorous and capable of carrying out its role of ~~umpire" and guarantor of individual free dom. He also crusaded for a strong, central government for the United States. But he wanted a government which would ensure peace and or der, and would leave men free to pursue their own ends within the bounds of the law. Private Property Defended To Ames, private property was one of the essential requirements of a free society. Without the right to own and dispose of property as the individual saw fit, Ames felt society would degenerate into tyranny and mediocrity. For a man is free only when he can gain a livelihood and choose how to dispose of it. This fundamental right of private prop erty Ames felt was jeopardized by such events as Shays' Rebellion. As Theodore Sedgewick, a prominent Federalist and friend of Ames, wrote at this time: ~~Every man of observa tion is convinced that the end of government security cannot be at tained by the exercise of principles founded on democratic equality. A war is now actually levied on the virtue, property and distinctions of the community."2 Throughout his life, Ames would fight to defend pri vate property.

Ames's convictions about the role of government in relation to the economy were clear from the begin ning of his public life. At the very time when Smith's The Wealth of Nations was being published in Eng land, Ames went as a delegate from Dedham to a convention in Concord. Called by the Boston Committee of Correspondence, the convention met to regulate prices during the Revo lution. Ames's position at the Con cord convention is summed up well by his biographer, Winfred Bern hard: Ames spoke emphatically against the whole concept of restrictions. He was convinced that employing the power of the state to establish the value of com modities was false, as prices resulted from agreement and consent between buyer and seller and could not be arbi trarily determined. The embarrassment of a depreciating currency, he stated, was inevitable and could be met only with patience and fortitude. 3 Ames was not heeded in his own 374 THE FREEMAN June day; nor would he be heard today.

Ames felt that the market could be supported only by moral and spiritual principles. Our own society has far less patience and fortitude than that of Ames, and it is doubtful whether most Americans could sac rifice their immediate satisfaction to any form of economic ((hardship." Ames knew that freedom in society and the economy could arise only from a people whose souls were or dered and virtuous. Freedom to Trade In his statements at Concord" Ames displayed an understanding of the workings of the free market. His belief that government intervention was detrimental to the economy was reinforced by his reading of Adam Smith. During the First Congress, Ames admired and supported many of the economic proposals of James Madison. He felt sure that Madison had read Smith and was intelli gently applying Smith's concepts to economic legislation. Ames's satis faction did not hist long, however, for Madison soon began introducing bills which in effect declared war on all of America's trading partners, using economic restrictions as weapons. Ames thought these ef forts at forcing other countries to trade ((favorably" with the United States would either be ineffectual or actually harmful. In one of his best orations in the House, Ames argued against Madison's proposals. uWere I invested with the trust to legislate for all mankind," Ames declared, ((it is very probable the first act of my authority would be to throw all the restrictive and prohibitory laws of trade onto the fire.... " Speaking of the regulations and tariffs in Madi son's bill, Ames continued: On the whole, the resolutions contain two great principles: to control trade by law, instead of leaving it to the better management of the merchants; and the principle of sumptuary law. To play the tyrant in the counting house, and in directing the private expenses of our citizens, are employments equally un worthy of discussion. 4 Ames saw these measures as in fringements on individual freedom as well as just poor economics.

Madison's bill was eventually tabled and then abandoned, but the tide was against Ames here as elsewhere, and interventionist policies would triumph in time. Ames was influenced not only by Adam Smith but also by another British liberal: Edmund Burke. Along with that philosopher of con servatism, Ames knew that a free economy existed only within a free society. But free societies do not arise out of some conscious ((social contract" or from the abstract plan of the political metaphysician. Or der, justice and freedom in the com monwealth emerge gradually· as the laws and institutions of a people 1980 FISHER AMES: FORGOTTEN DEFENDER OF LIBERTY 375 build up the framework of society. Habit and custom, prescription and prejudice are the buttresses of the commonwealth. Tampering willy nilly with the constitution of society can only break civilized forms loose from their grounding. Both Ames and Burke saw the American revo lution not as a radical reconstitution of things, but as an effort to preserve the American colonial tradition from English innovation and med dling. These men knew that change would and should come. But for change to be true progress, it must be seen in the light of the experience and tradition of a people.

The French Revolution The close of the 18th century was dominated by the French Revolu tion. That catastrophic political up heaval preoccupied Ames as well as Burke. To them, this was a real revolution, for it was an attempt to restructure French society accord ing to an ideological system of ideas. Ideology, as understood by Ames and Burke, is a Usecondreality," an abstract set of ideas dreamed up in the mind of someone who is con vinced his society is totally evil and unredeemable. The French revolu tionaries sought to impose this ideological ttdream" upon their na tion, and the clash of ideology with reality culminated in the horror and bloodshed of the Reign of Terror. Ames feared that the ideology of the French Revolution would take root in America, and he argued eloquently against it. The desire for innovation and reform, Ames said, perennially tempts people into ac cepting ideology.

The two main concepts to emerge from the ideology of the French Rev olution were equality and natural rights. Though they are noblesounding words, Ames knew them to be inimical to the free society. In stead of civil rights, based on man's spiritual nature and secured through centuries of tradition, the ideologists posited the rights of na ture which existed in some idyllic pre-civilized time. If only men would throw off their institutions and laws which are corrupt and evil, a new dawn of freedom would come. But Ames understood man's nature to be fallen and not essentially good, and thus he realized that institutions and law were precisely the guaran tors of order, and hence of freedom. Ames believed that the ideological notion of equality was perhaps the most dangerous idea to come out of the French Revolution. Equality ac cording to the ideologists meant not only equality before the law and before God, but equality of condi tion. This too arose from the idea that men in the state of nature were perfectly equal. The ideologists were not satisfied with the fact· that the free society gives each man the op portunity to better his condition 376' THE FREEMAN through effort, discipline and sac rifice.

Ames held that the egalitarians would attack both private property and free enterprise in order to achieve their ends. HThe philosophers among the democrats will no doubt insist, that they do not mean to equalize property, that they contend only for an equality of rights ... " But, Ames goes on to say, tton close examination, it turns out, that their notion is, that all the citizens of a republick have an equal right to political power."5 As Ames warned time and again, the de magogues will promise ttpower to the people," but will take the purse strings and wield the power them selves. Property rights inevitably will be violated by egalitarians. John Randolph of Roanoke formu lated succinctly what he felt the demagogues were saying in the phrase: ttWe are numbers. You are property." An Equality of Poverty The drive for equality of condi tion, said Ames, would ultimately end in the loss of individual free dom, the impoverishment of the people, and the aggrandizement of the demagogues. State-enforced equality would end merely in mediocrity, an equality of poverty, Ames said. Without the opportunity to better oneself and enjoy the fruits of one's labors, there will be no incentive to produce wealth. At the end of his life, Ames believed that the very pillars of the free society were being destroyed. Fisher Ames, as Russell Kirk has put it, ttexpired sunk deep in despair, prophesying mediocrity in spirit, anarchy in soci ety."6 This short survey of Ames's ideas does little justice to the man. His greatness lies not in the originality of his ideas, but in his learned and eloquent exposition of those princi ples of limited government and the free economy, and in his ability to apply those principles in the realm of public life. Despite the fact that he died expecting the imminent col lapse of American liberty, Ames's prophecies have been fulfilled in many ways. To study Fisher Ames is to see that the clash of ideas be tween the proponents of the free society and its enemies is as rele vant to our own time as it was to W& i -FOOTNOTESlRussell Kirk, The Conservative Mind (Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1972), p.