ABSTRACT
The United States of America stands as the fixed pillar at one end of the great arch. It is the promised land of free enterprise. The free market is enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. James Madison, ‘the father of the Constitution’, described himself as ‘the friend to a very free system of commerce’, and his sacred offspring expressly forbade Congress to make any law ‘impairing the Obligation of Contracts’; ‘nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation’. The Fifth Amendment states: ‘No person shall be…deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…’ The Constitution as amended in 1789 established the first great common market and with it the conditions for what Americans boast is the most successful system of free enterprise in the world.
