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Today is Constitution Day
“Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?” “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
from Human Events
By: Rep. Scott Garrett
Perhaps most people aren’t even aware that Monday is Constitution Day or even what the day commemorates. A recent Washington Times/JZ Analytics poll demonstrated that a broad cross section of Americans do not have a strong understanding of the Constitution. This is a shame. Everybody celebrates the day that Americans declared their independence from Great Britain, but far fewer people are even familiar with the events, or the document, that launched us as a nation.
The story begins with an unlikely hero: a soft-spoken, studious politician from Virginia by the name of James Madison. Madison asked his friend, Thomas Jefferson, to send him hundreds of volumes on politics from France, so that he could begin a research project on ancient and modern confederacies.
Closeted away at Montpelier, his rural home in Virginia, Madison explored the virtues and, even more importantly, the vices of confederacies, both past and present. His purpose was to experiment with ways to improve upon older models, and his investigations bore more fruit than most research projects ever do. The exercise was never meant to create a federal government so powerful that it would stifle state governments or individual initiative. It was about striking a balance between national and state government, all the while ensuring it is always the citizens who are in charge.
When the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, they made two decisions that would be crucial to their success: They elected George Washington as the president of the Convention, and they chose James Madison’s Virginia Plan as the starting point of all their debates.
Madison’s Plan certainly did not receive universal approval. And as these 55 men from twelve states debated how the United States should be governed, Madison’s suggestions would undergo numerous and significant changes. Large states would have to find common ground with small states; free states would have to compromise with slave states; and agricultural interests had to be reconciled to manufacturing interests.
At last, after three and a half months of wrangling, the Convention agreed on a final form of government. And on the last day of the Convention, September 17, 1787, nearly every member in attendance was willing to sign what would become, after its ratification, the Constitution of the United States of America.
[ MORE ]
Related Links:
Charters of Freedom at the National Archives
George Washington’s Mount Vernon
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello
James Madison’s Montpelier
Benjamin Franklin’s house
…and what could be better than Constitution Day but Constitution Week in Gilbert, AZ! hattip @PRM
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By golly, what would the Founders think of what is happening to the country today under O’s *cough* leadership…
dba_vagbond_trader
September 17th, 2012
George Washington put it clearly centuries ago:
“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
Xavier
September 17th, 2012
I wonder if we could assemble a group of men today who were as intelligent and as dedicated to the cause of freedom? I grew up in Virginia, and school history classes stressed the contributions of Virginians to the Republic; we argued over who was more important, Jefferson or Madison, and visited most of the President’s homes, as well as Washington, Williamsburg and Yorktown.
I’ve always favored Jefferson; even in 6th grade the concept of State’s Rights rang true. I know exactly what he’d say, and I believe Franklin would echo his words. But I’m neither of those men and I’m not writing it here because Big Sis is listening.
dba_vagbond_trader
September 17th, 2012
@Xavier:
Our founders were a rare magnificent confluence of history imho. Yes indeed, if here today they would be demanding a storm of Biblical proportions rain down on the tree of liberty.
@ illustr8er: Beautiful links, thanks for the post.
Efficacy
September 17th, 2012
“By golly, what would the Founders think of what is happening to the country today under O’s *cough* leadership…”
I believe they would charge him with treason.
Xavier
September 17th, 2012
Here’s one of my favorite websites. I could read it for hours.
http://foundersquotes.com/
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
Thomas Jefferson
Year: 1787
Context: Letter to William S. Smith
muddjuice (Absolutist)
September 17th, 2012
@ Xavier
I see where you’re going with it. And I’m not afraid to say it.
Jefferson would want us to throw off the chains of oppression. How did they do it? First with words. Pleas for understanding and logic.
When that failed, there was only one option left. Severing the ties by force….
PRM
September 17th, 2012
Today kicks off Constitution Week here in Gilbert, Arizona. This is the brain child of our current Mayor and another man, Bill Norton, and designed to help educate people regarding the constitution. I believe this is the tenth year of the event and it just gets better and better. I have included the link for this year.
http://www.constitutionweekusa.com/
dba_vagbond_trader
September 17th, 2012
@PRM:
What a terrific idea!
Birdie Num Num
September 17th, 2012
Sorry, Ben.
We couldn’t keep it.
Mistakes(Nov 4, 2008)were made.
Stranded in Sonoma
September 17th, 2012
No liberal alive today understands any of that. And the only thing they hear when the preamble is recited, is the phrase about welfare. Everything else to them has no meaning because it wasn’t written by Karl Marx.
The intelligent people get chills when they recite that, from memory. They know every word and they know it doesn’t take 9 black robed charlatans to tell them what it means.
what else
September 17th, 2012
’cause every other day of the year is Colonoscopy day
Anonymous
September 17th, 2012
Barry treats it like Charmin – and I’m not referring to squeezing it!
kevin in troy
September 18th, 2012
I grew up in Virginia, and school history classes stressed the contributions of Virginians to the Republic; we argued over who was more important, Jefferson or Madison, and visited most of the President’s homes, as well as Washington, Williamsburg and Yorktown.
well i went to the meatpacking plant (long before they refered to them as Man’s Country) and heard how important it was to spray insecticide for a full 20 seconds whenever they opened the back overhead doors… in the same room that they ‘make’ the hotdogs
guess we knew who got a valuable education and who didn’t.
dissident
September 18th, 2012
RIP constitution.
Patriot Act and NDAA are some of the first nails in it’s coffin.
If the founders were alive today they’d challenge every modern politician to a duel for what they’ve done.
Anonymous
September 18th, 2012
JUSTICE ROBERTS IS THE PERSON WHO WANTS TO CHANGE THE CONSTITUTION, NOT OBAMA…..GET THAT ….ROBERTS
Xavier
September 18th, 2012
@kevin in troy
Aw da widdle twoll is jeawous!