America was launched with a declaration that, in the words of John Quincy Adams, “constituted a great people” and “laid the foundation of their government upon the unalterable and eternal principles of human rights.” It does not follow, however, that Americans should embrace elaborate schemes to codify human rights in international law. Our Founding documents actually suggest the opposite conclusion. The traditional view of the Constitution, if we still attend to it, protects our system against overreaching by contemporary human rights advocates.
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In 1954, the Senate nearly passed a constitutional amendment to curtail the president’s authority to make international agreements. President Dwight D. Eisenhower avoided a major foreign policy loss thanks to an unusual ally.