Does the Constitution Still Matter?

People who ask this question usually want to start a fight or are pathetically ignorant. Our Constitution emerged 225 years ago today. It matters as long as the United States exists. Yet Americans still argue about it, file lawsuits about it, claim to love it, and swear to uphold it. They accuse each other of violating it. But most have never READ IT. So let’s look at it.

The founders’ first attempt at creating a government in 1781, the Articles of Confederation, didn’t work very well. So six years later, they tried again and gave us the United States Constitution.

Fifty-five farmers and businessmen, serving as Constitutional Convention delegates, contributed their ideas. James Madison and Gouverneur Morris wrote most of the text, consisting of 4,400 words. The founders didn’t want to write an intricate daily operating manual. The Constitution is an outline for our government. Madison and Morris deliberately included some very general language.

The Constitution contains three parts – the Preamble, the Articles, and the Amendments.

Read More …

What is the Constitution Anyway?

Our schools don’t teach this stuff.

The U.S. Constitution has been in the news more in recent years than at any time that I can remember. Many Republicans have been throwing temper tantrums about the Constitution. They screech and whine and holler that they just love it eversomuch, but they’re usually wrong about what it says.

Schools used to teach “Civics”, which concerns the rules by which our governments are organized and how they operate. Then the schools stopped teaching civics for a while; it just wasn’t fashionable. Now, some schools teach it and some don’t. When they do teach it, they do it very poorly. And today, America has two generations of citizens who have no idea how our own government works. But that doesn’t stop them all from hollering at each other.

Read More …