The Constitution and Administrative Ethics in America

Abstract

This essay explores the contributions of founding thought to current issues regarding administrative ethics. It is argued that the founders understood public administration to be a political enterprise and, therefore, public administrators should not be excluded from their analysis of citizen character. The U.S. Constitution anticipates that self-interest will be the dominant motive of citizens and governors, including public administrators. However, the founders hoped that it would encourage the emergence of virtuous and disinterested public servants. The contemporary literature on administrative ethics reflects these concerns through two different characterizations: the disinterested administrator and the self-interested administrator. Both may legitimately claim support in founding thought. However, while the founders sought to establish conditions under which disinterested or morally elevated administration could emerge, they did not believe that such an "aristocracy" should be allowed to arise at the expense of republican government, democratic values, or the "realistic" image of human nature that underpins the constitution.

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