Home > Student Contests

Student Contests

By Caleb Zylstra 

Death loomed in the mind of Thomas Jefferson as he wrote a letter to Roger Weightman, mayor of Washington D.C., on June 24th, 1826. Weightman had invited Jefferson to a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the American founding. Jefferson, being deathly ill, was unable to attend. His illness, however, did not prevent him from reflecting on the founding of the nation in his letter to Weightman, in which he stated “may [American independence] be to the world… the signal of arousing men to burst the chains… and to assume the blessings & security of self-government.”

As Jefferson approached the 50th anniversary of America, we now approach the 250th. America’s founding means to me after 250 years what it meant to Jefferson after 50: A sign that men should break their chains, and embrace the ideals of self-government. Yet after 200 more years, Jefferson’s words have taken on a richer meaning still. Men not only should break their chains, but they have broken their chains.

On September 18, 1810, the people of Chile declared independence from their rulers in Spain. Their leader against the Spanish was a general named Bernardo O’Higgins. Having been inspired by his studies of the American Revolution, O’Higgins led Chile in fighting for their own liberty from the rule of a power across the Atlantic. Although O’Higgins was, after defeating Spain, appointed Chile’s “supreme director,” he used his power to make the nation a Republic, with structures similar to the United States.

O’Higgins and the people of Chile did just as Jefferson expected: After seeing American independence, they broke their own chains to pursue the blessings of self-government. O’Higgins’ motivations were so inspired by the American founders, and his actions so similar to theirs, that he earned the nickname “the Chilean George Washington.” The brutal fighting Chile endured and the liberty gained at its end serves well as proof of the principle once espoused by Thomas Paine, that “those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” With the inspiration of their American counterparts, the nation of Chile underwent that fatigue in pursuit of freedom.

Across an ocean, those who could not revolt instead fled. My Irish great-great-grandparents lived for many years under the repressive rule of the British Empire. They, their parents, and their grandparents had their property seized, their religious freedom stripped, and their right to self-governance discarded. The revolts of the Irish were often violently quashed. Their chains were difficult to break.

So, my great-great-grandparents, along with many like them, burst their chains not through revolution but immigration. If freedom from a brutally authoritarian government could not be achieved in their own nation, they would make a different nation their own. While their lives had been marked by oppression and the poverty that resulted from it, their children and grandchildren were able to do greater things: One became a Harvard librarian. Several others have held multiple patents. Another conducted the restoration of Abraham Lincoln’s home. They achieved the self-government described by Jefferson; their descendants gained its blessings.

America’s beacon of liberty has spread far beyond Chile and Ireland. In 1835, after a visit to the United States, French aristocrat, philosopher, and writer Alexis De Tocqueville noted that America had sparked what he saw as a “double revolution”: that “the noble will have slipped on the social ladder, the commoner will have risen.” This spark, Tocqueville believed, had spread greatly as he stated that “in whatever direction we cast our eyes, we notice the same revolution continuing in all of the Christian universe.”

Jefferson’s wish, that American independence would inspire men to “burst the chains” and “assume the blessings and security of self-government,” has proven true. But it is only true because America has served by example — by demonstrating liberty and self-government to the world. Bernardo O’Higgins would not have been inspired by an American Revolution that failed its promises. My great-great-grandparents from Ireland would not have left their home for an America that did not deliver freedom. But America’s success is not the only prediction of Thomas Jefferson’s that has come true. In a letter to Edward Carrington, he wrote “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.” In many ways in the United States, liberty has yielded, and government has gained ground.

In 1941, Congress passed a set of amendments to the Agricultural Adjustment Act. This seemingly dull law contained a number of sinister provisions: Most notably, one penalizing farmers who produced more wheat than permitted. Roscoe Filburn was one such farmer. In addition to producing wheat to sell, he produced wheat — beyond the limit — for his own family’s consumption. After being fined, Filburn appealed his case to the Supreme Court, who ruled against him — on the basis that his production of wheat for his family constituted “interstate commerce,” and could thus be regulated by Congress. In this decision, the court effectively discarded the Constitutional system of enumerated powers in favor of unlimited powers. Liberty had yielded. Government had gained.

Jefferson was right on both counts. If things are left to their “natural progress” — without the intervention of those who love freedom — liberty will indeed yield. Yet that liberty, though at times suppressed, has persevered for 250 years as a sign to the world to assume the blessings of self-government. While natural progress may leave liberty failing, men are still able to burst their chains. 200 years after Jefferson’s prediction, men are still fighting the natural progress in order to allow liberty to gain, and government to yield. With our participation, it may prove true for 200 more.

Works Cited:

[1] Jefferson, Thomas. “Thomas Jefferson to Roger Weightman – Thomas Jefferson.” Exhibitions – Library of Congress, 24 Jun. 1826, https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/214.html.

[2] Raymer, John D. “Bernardo O’Higgins.” EBSCO, 2023, https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/bernardo-ohiggins.

[3] Kinsbruner, Jay. “Bernardo O’Higgins.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Jul. 1998, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bernardo-OHiggins.

[4] “The American crisis. Number IV. By the author of Common sense.” In the digital collection Evans Early American Imprint Collection. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/N12281.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections.

[5] de Tocqueville, Alexis. Democracy in America. 1845.

[6] Jefferson, Thomas. “Founders Online: Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 27 May 1788.” National Archives, 27 May 1788, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-13-02-0120.

[7] Jackson, Robert. Wickard v. Filburn. 1942.