--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If these precedents are to stand…" description: "\"If these precedents are to stand unimpeached, and to provide sanctions for the continued conduct of America affairs-the Constitution may be nullified b..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8bc/charles-a-beard-25369_affair_if-these-precedents-are-to-stand-unimpea_3153203.png" --- # If these precedents are to stand unimpeached, and to… ![“If these precedents are to stand unimpeached, and to provide sanctions for the continued conduct of America affairs-the Constitution may be nullified by the President and officers who have taken the oath and are under moral obligation to uphold it…they may substitute personal and arbitrary…” quote by Charles A. Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8bc/charles-a-beard-25369_affair_if-these-precedents-are-to-stand-unimpea_3153203.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8bc/charles-a-beard-25369_affair_if-these-precedents-are-to-stand-unimpea_3153203.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8bc/charles-a-beard-25369_affair_if-these-precedents-are-to-stand-unimpea_3153203.png) > “If these precedents are to stand unimpeached, and to provide sanctions for the continued conduct of America affairs-the Constitution may be nullified by the President and officers who have taken the oath and are under moral obligation to uphold it…they may substitute personal and arbitrary government-the first principle of the totalitarian system against which it has been alleged that World War II was waged-while giving lip service to the principle of constitutional government.” [Charles A. Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-beard/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote warns that ignoring constitutional limits can let executives override law, creating a totalitarian regime disguised as constitutional government. **In simple terms:** Ignoring the Constitution lets presidents become tyrants. Key Takeaway Guard constitutional checks and balances. Themes law government tyranny constitution ethics Mood cautious critical serious Type political philosophical When to use this quote - Political debate - legal reform - civil service training - academic study - public policy Key Concepts Separation of powers rule of law authoritarianism Questions to Reflect On - How can citizens ensure leaders respect constitutional limits? - What mechanisms best prevent executive overreach? A Different Perspective It assumes all leaders will act immorally, which may not always be true. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Affair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/affair/) [America](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/america/) [Arbitrary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arbitrary/) [Arbitrary Government](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arbitrary-government-1290543/) [Constitution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/constitution/) [Constitution Nullified](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/constitution-nullified-5669623/) [Constitutional government](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/constitutional-government/) [Firsts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firsts/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Government](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/) [Has beens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/has-beens/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Lip service](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lip-service/) [Lips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lips/) [May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/) [Moral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral/) [Moral obligation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral-obligation/) [Nullified President](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nullified-president-5669625/) [Oath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oath/) [Obligation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/obligation/) [Officers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/officers/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Precedent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/precedent/) [President](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/president/) [Principle Constitutional](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/principle-constitutional-5669624/) [Principle Totalitarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/principle-totalitarian-5669626/) [Principles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/principles/) [Sanctions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sanctions/) [Substitutes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/substitutes/) [Taken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/taken/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) [War of the worlds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war-of-the-worlds/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) [World war](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world-war/) [World war i](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world-war-i/) [World war ii](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world-war-ii/) ## Related quotes > [Nothing distinguishes more clearly conditions in a free country from those in a country under arbitrary government than the observance in the former of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-august-von-hayek/nothing-distinguishes-more-clearly-conditions-in-a-free-country-from/) [Friedrich August von Hayek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-august-von-hayek/) > [In times of political confusion, and under an arbitrary government, many will prefer to keep their capital inactive, concealed, and unproductive, either of profit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-say/in-times-of-political-confusion-and-under-an-arbitrary-government/) [Jean-Baptiste Say](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-say/) > [“Human rights and freedoms protect us against arbitrary government.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-tirole/human-rights-and-freedoms-protect-us-against-arbitrary-government/) [Jean Tirole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-tirole/) > [Inflation is the fiscal complement of statism and arbitrary government. It is a cog in the complex of policies and institutions which gradually lead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/inflation-is-the-fiscal-complement-of-statism-and-arbitrary/) [Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/) > [“Arbitrary government operating by force, by terror, must destroy the best, the boldest dissenters in sheer self-defence; soon it finds itself destroying all who,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-crankshaw/arbitrary-government-operating-by-force-by-terror-must-destroy-the/) [Edward Crankshaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-crankshaw/) > [I am a mortal enemy to arbitrary government and unlimited power. I am naturally very jealous for the rights and liberties of my country,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/i-am-a-mortal-enemy-to-arbitrary-government-and-unlimited-power-i-am/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [The right of citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against the tyranny which now appears remote…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hubert-h-humphrey/the-right-of-citizens-to-bear-arms-is-just-one-guarantee-against/) [Hubert H. Humphrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hubert-h-humphrey/) > [I am a mortal enemy to arbitrary government and unlimited power.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/i-am-a-mortal-enemy-to-arbitrary-government-and-unlimited-power/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [Arbitrary government power is being multiplied daily by the now practically unchallenged assumption that wherever there is any problem of any kind to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-hazlitt/arbitrary-government-power-is-being-multiplied-daily-by-the-now/) [Henry Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-hazlitt/) > [Terrorists can endanger some of us, but the war on terror endangers us all. How much more can the Constitution be diminished before it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-craig-roberts/terrorists-can-endanger-some-of-us-but-the-war-on-terror-endangers-us/) [Paul Craig Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-craig-roberts/) > [To take a single step beyond the boundaries specially drawn around the powers of Congress is to take possession of a boundless field of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/to-take-a-single-step-beyond-the-boundaries-specially-drawn-around/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [The American founding is not just about a group of people, a group of men. It is about an ideal: Both a vision and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-kengor/the-american-founding-is-not-just-about-a-group-of-people-a-group-of/) [Paul Kengor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-kengor/) > [It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-hamilton/it-will-be-of-little-avail-to-the-people-that-the-laws-are-made-by/) [Alexander Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-hamilton/) > [If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-washington/if-in-the-opinion-of-the-people-the-distribution-or-modification-of/) [George Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-washington/) > [It is afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised - and it should be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-snowden/it-is-afraid-of-an-informed-angry-public-demanding-the-constitutional/) [Edward Snowden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-snowden/) ## More by Charles A. Beard > [Jeffersonian Democracy simply meant the possession of the federal government by the agrarian masses led by an aristocracy of slave-owning masses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-beard/jeffersonian-democracy-simply-meant-the-possession-of-the-federal/) [Charles A. Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-beard/) > [Killing time is not murder, it is suicide.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-beard/killing-time-is-not-murder-it-is-suicide/) [Charles A. Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-beard/) > [“The national government belongs to the whole American people,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-beard/the-national-government-belongs-to-the-whole-american-people/) [Charles A. Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-beard/) > [All the lessons of history in four sentences: 1) Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad with power; 2) The mills of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-beard/all-the-lessons-of-history-in-four-sentences-1-whom-the-gods-would/) [Charles A. Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-beard/) > [A man is a failure who goes through life earning nothing but money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-beard/a-man-is-a-failure-who-goes-through-life-earning-nothing-but-money/) [Charles A. Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-beard/) > [“THE COLONIAL PERIOD”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-beard/the-colonial-period/) [Charles A. Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-beard/) > [Technological civilization... rests fundamentally on power-driven machinery which transcends the physical limits of its human directors, multiplying indefinitely the capacity for the production of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-beard/technological-civilization-rests-fundamentally-on-power-driven/) [Charles A. Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-beard/) > [“French-Canadian, the Alaskan, the Latin-American, the German, the Italian, the Anglo-American, and the American Indian, squaw and warrior. In the place of honor in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-beard/french-canadian-the-alaskan-the-latin-american-the-german-the-italian/) [Charles A. Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-beard/) > [The borrowers of America and all the world turn to New York…It is to the quotations on the New York Stock Exchange that men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-beard/the-borrowers-of-america-and-all-the-world-turn-to-new-york-it-is-to/) [Charles A. Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-beard/) > [The bee fertilizes the flower it robs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-beard/the-bee-fertilizes-the-flower-it-robs/) [Charles A. Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-beard/) > [“The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-beard/the-mills-of-god-grind-slowly-but-they-grind-exceedingly-fine/) [Charles A. Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-beard/) > [The two great tests of character are wealth and poverty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-beard/the-two-great-tests-of-character-are-wealth-and-poverty/) [Charles A. Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-beard/) > [The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-beard/the-mills-of-god-grind-slowly-but-they-grind-exceedingly-small/) [Charles A. Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-beard/) > [“In a little while it was taken up in the streets and along the countryside. All through the North and in some of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-beard/in-a-little-while-it-was-taken-up-in-the-streets-and-along-the/) [Charles A. Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-beard/) > [Let us put aside resolutely that great fright, tenderly and without malice, daring to be wrong in something important rather than right in some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-beard/let-us-put-aside-resolutely-that-great-fright-tenderly-and-without/) [Charles A. Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-beard/) [Explore all 23 Charles A. Beard quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-beard/) ## More Affair quotes > [Histories never conclude; they just pause their prose. Their stories are, if they are truthful, untidy affairs, resistant to windings-up and sortings-out. They beat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/histories-never-conclude-they-just-pause-their-prose-their-stories/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [Islam never differentiates between men and women as regards political rights and puts them on an equal footing. However, even if a woman is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yusuf-al-qaradawi/islam-never-differentiates-between-men-and-women-as-regards-political/) [Yusuf al-Qaradawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yusuf-al-qaradawi/) > [Our guiding principle was that design is neither an intellectual nor a material affair, but simply an integral part of the stuff of life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-gropius/our-guiding-principle-was-that-design-is-neither-an-intellectual-nor/) [Walter Gropius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-gropius/) > [I wonder if it's possible to have a love affair that lasts forever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-warhol/i-wonder-if-it-s-possible-to-have-a-love-affair-that-lasts-forever/) [Andy Warhol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-warhol/) > [For a young man to start his career with a love affair with an older woman was quite de rigueur ... Of course, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vita-sackville-west/for-a-young-man-to-start-his-career-with-a-love-affair-with-an-older/) [Vita Sackville-West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vita-sackville-west/) > [As long as the state permits itself to interfere in the affairs of literature, literature has the right to interfere with the affairs of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/as-long-as-the-state-permits-itself-to-interfere-in-the-affairs-of/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [Love is mainly an affair of short spasms. If these spasms disappoint us, love dies. It is very seldom that it weathers the experience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/love-is-mainly-an-affair-of-short-spasms-if-these-spasms-disappoint/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [The Fundamental Principle that governs - or ought to govern -human affairs if we wish to avoid misunderstandings, conflicts, or pointless utopias, is negotiation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/the-fundamental-principle-that-governs-or-ought-to-govern-human/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [My hope does not rest in the affairs of this world. It rests in Christ who is coming again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-graham/my-hope-does-not-rest-in-the-affairs-of-this-world-it-rests-in-christ/) [Billy Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-graham/) > [In 1953, the United States played a significant role in orchestrating the overthrow of Iran's popular prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh. The Eisenhower administration believed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madeleine-albright/in-1953-the-united-states-played-a-significant-role-in-orchestrating/) [Madeleine Albright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madeleine-albright/) > [Not everyone likes the stable, gradual rise of our country. There are some who are using the democratic ideology to interfere in our internal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-putin/not-everyone-likes-the-stable-gradual-rise-of-our-country-there-are/) [Vladimir Putin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-putin/) > [The archives recall not one single incriminating incident, not one drunken escapade, not one reported affair, not one spat with a team-mate or reporter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-atherton/the-archives-recall-not-one-single-incriminating-incident-not-one/) [Michael Atherton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-atherton/) > [“I ripped the sketch from the wall. "Liar." Edward looked more ravaged than usual. "That is a terrible word, coming from you." "Yup." "And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-jensen/i-ripped-the-sketch-from-the-wall-liar-edward-looked-more-ravaged/) [Melissa Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-jensen/) > [For some people, a one-night stand doesn't make any difference in a seven-year love affair. I don't believe the degree of betrayal is always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-perel/for-some-people-a-one-night-stand-doesn-t-make-any-difference-in-a/) [Esther Perel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-perel/) > [And what is literature, Rabo," he said, "but an insider's newsletter about affairs relating to molecules, of no importance to anything in the universe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/and-what-is-literature-rabo-he-said-but-an-insider-s-newsletter-about/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) [Browse all 2,218 Affair quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/affair/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If these precedents are to stand unimpeached, and to provide sanctions for the continued conduct of America affairs-the Constitution may be nullified by the President and officers who have taken the oath and are under moral obligation to uphold it…they may substitute personal and arbitrary government-the first principle of the totalitarian system against which it has been alleged that World War II was waged-while giving lip service to the principle of constitutional government.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Charles A. 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