ABSTRACT
The American political experiment has proven so successful that it seems to have fulfilled a predetermined national destiny. The Founders' thought made possible the first great republic of modernity, but it did not guarantee its continued well-being. Although Story criticized the Jacksonian doctrine of unlimited faith in the common man, he did not oppose the democratic principle of majority rule. Rather, he combined his advocacy of this principle with the reminder that sobriety and moderation were inconsistent neither with the spirit nor letter of democratic government. Story's most direct and authoritative contributions to the preservation and perpetuation of the Constitution were made in his capacity as a Supreme Court Justice. In Story's view, a strong and enduring Union comprised a necessary condition for the protection of important natural rights such as the right to property. Such a Union provided the means of inducing material prosperity, as his commerce clause and certain contract clause decisions illustrated.
