WHY WITHERSPOON MUST BE HONORED

As per the theory of common sense realism, those in authority are as fallible as those being governed; hence Witherspoon was also for a system of checks and balances. To ensure a “perfect and lasting union,” Witherspoon argued for  “an enlarged system called the balance of power that remedied not just the weaknesses of preceding constitutions but also some of the weaknesses of the human constitution itself.” While the people would keep a check on the leaders, mob mentality would be kept in restraint by the creation of the electoral college. Witherspoon, therefore, perceived the creation of the American Constitution itself as an opportunity for the United States to assume “the role of defender of the people, as its civil-social leaders became the new exhorters of virtue and repentance, calling every citizen to restore affections by voluntary consent and common agreement.” His student, James Madison, went on to enshrine the systems of checks and balances that defines the American political system in the Constitution.

Witherspoon did much to found the ideals that set America on the road to greatness. As a pedagogue and politician, he “championed” the right to “choose” one’s own faith, and demonstrated that true education was liberal and nationalistic, scientific and moral. When colonial America was sapped by the conflict between being independent countries and one absolute nation, he had argued for the founding of a United States with inbuilt systems of checks and balances that would prevent anyone state or branch of government from dominating another. Additionally, he had offered Americans a philosophy of conflict resolution and compromise through common sense principles, and showed them how to use it through his own life choices.

As the conflicts in Witherspoon’s life were the conflicts of America, to look at him is to look at colonial America in a snapshot. Event though Witherspoon’s contributions as pastor, college president, and patriot are colossal, not all Americans are aware of his role in the making of their country. Scholarship on Witherspoon is slim, and he has only three statues  and one school  named after him. Honoring Witherspoon’s contributions and philosophy is necessary not only because his philosophy can still be a useful framework of compromise but also because it is imperative that the nation corrects the historic injustice done to the memory of her forgotten founder, John Knox Witherspoon.