TODAY IS CONSTITUTION DAY: On this day 227 years ago, after long and contentious deliberation, our founders signed The United States Constitution. In the opening paragraph of The Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton explained what was at stake in Americas decision to ratify it: AFTER an unequivocal experience of the inefficacy of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America. The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the UNION, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world. It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force. If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind. I still believe that the question of whether human societies are capable of self-government and ordered liberty is at stake in the American experiment. I love my country and the principles it was founded on. Being an American isnt about blood and soil. It isnt about who your parents were or where you were born. It is about believing in human liberty as it is understood in our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I wanted to take a moment to remember these traditions on this day. They make us what we are!
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 00:37:15 +0000