Weekly Opinion Editorial
THE
CONSTITUTION TURNS 228!
by Steve Fair
Thursday is Constitution Day or
Citizenship Day. It recognizes the
adoption of the U.S. Constitution and those who have become U.S. citizens either
by birth or by naturalization.
The U.S. Constitution was signed on
September 17, 1787 by thirty nine men.
Signers include George Washington, James Madison, Ben Franklin, and
Alexander Hamilton. Franklin, 81, was so feeble that he required
help to sign the document. Tears
streamed down his face as he put pen to paper.
Future Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams did not sign the
document because they were both out of the country. Of the fifty-five authorized delegates to the
Constitutional Convention, thirty-nine actually signed the Constitution. Edmund
Randolph and George Mason of Virginia and
Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts
refused to sign due in part due to the lack of a bill of rights. Patrick Henry didn’t attend the convention
because in his words: ‘he smelled a rat.’ 34 of the delegates were lawyers, 8 had
signed the Declaration of Independence and half were Revolutionary War
veterans.
James Madison was the only delegate to
attend every meeting. He took detailed notes of the various discussions and
debates that took place during the convention. The journal that he kept during
the Constitutional Convention was kept secret until after he died. It (along
with other papers) was purchased by the government in 1837 at a price of
$30,000 (that would be $654,000 today). The journal was published in 1840.
The actual writing of the Constitution was
done by Jacob Shallus, a Pennsylvania General Assembly clerk. He was paid the handsome sum of $30 ($789
today). The text of the Constitution was
printed by John Dunlap and David Claypoole in Philadelphia and sent to the various state
constitutional conventions for debate and discussion. The Constitution was ratified by specially
elected state conventions beginning in December 1787. The order in which the
thirteen states accepted the new constitution was Delaware, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New
Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island.
Since 1952, the U.S. Constitution has been
on display in the National Archives Building
in Washington, DC. Currently, all four pages are displayed
behind protective glass framed with titanium. To preserve the parchment’s
quality, the case contains argon gas and is kept at 67 degrees with a relative
humidity of 40 percent.
The U.S. Constitution has 4,400 words. It
is the oldest and shortest written Constitution of any major government in the
world." It has 27
amendments, but has only been amended 17 times since the first 10—which make up
the Bill of Rights. When the
Constitution was signed, the United
States’ population was 4 million. It is now
more than 321 million. Philadelphia
was the nation’s largest city, with 40,000 inhabitants. This week the Constitution will celebrate 228
years. Few documents have guided a
people or government for that length of time.
What is the genius of the Constitution and why has it endured so long?
First, it recognizes that individual rights
and liberty do not originate with man, but with a divine Creator. The founders understood that if a man
centered government could grant rights, those rights could just as easily be taken
away.
Second, the document separates the powers
of government by establishing three branches of government with carefully
defined powers. John Adams, the father
of the Constitution said, "The accumulation of all powers, legislative,
executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a
few, or many... may justly be pronounced the very definition of
tyranny." The
founders worried about absolute power corrupting absolutely.
Third, the real genius of the Constitution
is it can be changed. Self government
allows for the people to demand the document be amended. John Marshall said, “The
people made the Constitution, and the people can unmake it. It is the creature
of their will, and lives only by their will.”
The Constitution has served us well and
every American should love our founding document. Unfortunately most Americans have never read
it. In his farewell address to Congress,
former U.S. Congressman Ron Paul said: “Our Constitution, which was intended to
limit government power and abuse, has failed. The Founders warned that a
free society depends on a virtuous and moral people. The current crisis
reflects that their concerns were justified.” The document hasn’t failed. In a self-governing society, when the
founding document is not followed we have only ourselves to blame. Americans have taken no interest in their
government. The Constitution should and
must be followed to the letter- it is the ONLY source of authority that
government has and that authority comes from the people.
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