Willmoore Kendall’s 1787 Plan
Kendall believed in a free society which encouraged liberty within limits.
Willmoore Kendall loved his democracy right up. He used the word to mean that the people’s will prevailed in politics. Decisions that were made without the approval of majority were undemocratic and minority-made. The chief quest of Kendall’s life was to preserve democracy in the modern world. His holy grail was to solve Rousseau’s conundrum that “Men are born free and everywhere are in chains.” The Genevan philosopher thought democracy incompatible with modern life in large countries. Kendall was a fan of Rousseau. He believed that majority rule could survive in a world of nation states. In time, he found the answer to Rousseau’s riddle right under his nose. The U.S. Constitution provided a great plan to combine democracy and modernity, he found.
Commitment to democracy preceded Kendall’s belief in a benevolent Constitution. Kendall was a young scholar when he accepted the progressive…
