As with so much of our modern thinking, we are influenced by what Karl Marx called “The tradition of all the dead generations [which] weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.” Marx bemoaned the fact that so much of our thinking was influenced by past actors, which prevented radical change. Fortunately, the influence that weighs upon us provides us with more help than hindrance. It is a rich Greco-Roman tradition which has graced us with literature, philosophy, and governmental institutions. Therefore, in order to determine what justice is, it is important to look upon this tradition for wisdom and guidance.
In his sixth-century Institutes, the famous Emperor Justinian codified into Roman law our modern conception of justice. He defined it as “the constant and perpetual will to render each his due.” He believed that it was justice to give a man what he was owed. This definition was also consistent with Plato who defined justice in The Republic as, “doing one’s own work and not meddling with what isn’t one’s own.” Plato believed that in order for a man to be just he had to fulfill his station in life.
According to these two definitions it is just for a man to fulfill his station in life while giving each man what he is due. In this view, justice does not seem to require any material equality. After all, each man or woman has their own destiny to fulfill. Additionally, each person is due a different amount. It would be absurd to say that Titan of Industry J.D. Rockefeller was owed the same as a man who worked on the assembly line of a Ford factory. If this was distorted, it would actually be contrary to principles of justice. Each is given what he is owed based on his specific skill set, which is consistent with a Justinian conception of justice.
Therefore, material equality is not justice. Our Founding Fathers realized this. That is why they never tried to enforce material equality. Instead, they attempted to establish a respect for equal rights. In the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson stated, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with Certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” In the eyes of our Founders, the whole purpose of government was to protect these natural rights.
Because the Founders believed that these natural rights were a gift from God, they must have also thought that it was unjust to discriminate against people based upon arbitrary characteristics. This fundamental proposition established the principle of equality under the law, also known as the rule of law, which is the fundamental tenet of American equality. Thus, courts were set up to ensure that justice would be done. In the Federalist No. 78 Alexander Hamilton claimed, “the courts were designed to be an intermediate body between the people and the legislature, in order, among other things, to keep the latter within the limits of its assigned authority.” Therefore, the judiciary was designed to respect the natural equality of mankind by preserving the natural rights that each individual is due.
Unfortunately, America would fall far short of this goal with such evils as slavery and Jim Crow segregation. However, famous abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass would call upon America to recognize its creed of equality and justice. In his fight for equality under the law, Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’” King and other great civil rights leaders harked back to our original notions of justice and equality. They believed that it is just for the government to treat people equally, because God has given everyone natural rights and natural value.
In the end, justice and equality are not bound to be at odds with one another. They are innately intertwined. Justice does not lie in material equality. It lies in giving each man what he is due. Given that each man is endowed by his Creator with innate value, it is just for the government to treat us equally before the law. It is also just that the government should constantly seek to honor our natural rights. This is our Founding creed and it has inspired countless heroes in their relentless pursuit of freedom, justice, and equality before the law.
