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THE AUTHOR, A FORMER CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES, DESCRIBES THE ENVIRONMENT THAT PRODUCED THE US CONSTITUTION. HE EXPLAINS THAT THE COUNTRY WAS A LEAGUE OF SOVEREIGN STATES IN 1787 AND SUGGESTS THAT IT TOOK THE CIVIL WAR TO PROVE NATIONAL SUPREMACY OVER THE STATES.

Thirty-five years ago the American historian, Henry Steele Commager, wrote that: "Nothing in all history succeeded like America." He was not speaking simply of the success of our unique political experiment or of our remarkable productivity, wealth, and material prosperity, but more of the flowering of the human spirit under the system of freedom that we established two centuries ago. Why was this so? The real meaning can be understood better as we see oppressed people in all parts of the world making a beaten path to our shores—the "Boat People" of Vietnam and Cambodia, and the newer "Boat People" from Cuba. And now, just weeks ago, the world has witnessed again the unquenchable hunger of people for freedom. With the Soviet Union's tanks and troops still in Polish memories, hundreds of thousands of Poles risked their lives for just a few of the freedoms we take for granted.

Contributions to the 1st Wallace Conference on "The Constitution, Freedom of Expression, and the Liberal Arts," held in Sept. 1986 at Macalester College ; sponsored by the college.