Why is the American Constitution so important?
The United States Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787. Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, observed annually on September 17, is an American federal observance that recognizes the adoption of the United States Constitution and those who have become U.S. citizens
I spent much of my educational experience as a History teacher, both of World and American History. History is still an eager personal interest revealing the unique value of America and its founding documents as historical marvels. Understanding the deep cost and the awesome responsibility of being an American is difficult without a good knowledge of World History. For recent generations, History, as a nationally important subject, has taken a backseat to mathematical and scientific study - with disastrous consequences. Without knowing from whence we came, it is difficult to know how our nation came to be, its importance, and why every generation has to protect the work of the former. History is just a story, and anyone can learn a story. Recorded time is a collection of stories about humans - some good, some bad, but all just like us - sinful men and women attempting to leave a legacy on the world. One country entered the world's stage almost 250 years ago; only second to Israel, it is rare in all of human history to have had influence from God's Word at its FOUNDING; we just know it as home, everyone knows it as: America.
American summers are rightly filled with spectacular celebrations of Independence Day and the first reading of the Declaration of Independence. Every year, we mark the day brave Americans pledged their lives and fortunes in the cause of liberty some of them would never live to see. The weight of the treason the signers committed just two days before by putting ink to paper can be seen in the shakey signatures. I'd like to imagine I'd be brave enough to sign my name like John Hancock, but none of us can know for sure until we are met with choosing freedom in the face of tyranny. Not only would these men's lives be at risk but also those of their families. These were not paupers with nothing to lose; they were wealthy, influential men who stood to lose their land, their fortunes, their long held English honor. They did not lurk into the shadows, but rather the document was loudly proclaimed in every town to cheers and gun fire. Then they waited for the consequences - prison, bankruptcy, eight years of brutal war against the most powerful military in the world.
At the end of the Revolutionary War, a war torn but free America set to the task of what the new country would look like. They did not rush the process. The Constitutional Convention debated for years because it was a task these men did not take lightly. Unlike too many Americans today, these men KNEW History. They drew from the most magnificent empires, great minds, their personal experiences of oppression, and the Bible. They were divided regionally and even politically. But, the PEOPLE are not served if there is not vigorous debate.
James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, George Washtington, John Adams, and a list of men who included two Pickneys from South Carolina and William Few from Georgia would debate the virtue of every form of government from the Monarchies of Europe to the Democracies of Greece. In the end, they would settle on the Republic influenced greatly by the work of a secular political behemoth they all admired, Cicero, and polished by the influence of the Bible.
But even then it would not come without compromise, nothing does. As the wealthy Southern states were necessary not only to secure the votes needed to pass the Constitution but to invigorate the new economy, slavery was a contested issue. Slavery in America was initially economic, as it had been throughout the world for all time, but money is the root of all evil. New Americans could not justify the cause for liberty for citizens with the need for liberty of all mankind. Abolitionists in five Northern states, influenced by Puritan laws and Quaker influences, had already begun the process to end slavery before the war had even begun, some ending it during the war. With only thirteen states, and all needed for ratification, compromises had to be made. The Southern states wanted slaves to count as citizens when considering the number of Representatives in the new House of Representatives, but the Northern states would not hear it. They maintained slaves were property or they were not, so they would be taxed as property and NOT counted for representation. Both sides needed each other, an important basis for any compromise, so the South aquicesed - slaves must count for SOME portion of representation, and it must be more than half. The North agreed IF slavery was made illegal. Both sides settled on what we know as the 3/5 (or 60%) Compromise, AND it gave the South twenty years to figure out a better plan for labor as it would become a federal crime to import new slaves January 1, 1808. It was a small step in the right direction, but it would require another war to break the South's hold on the economy and the 13th Amendment's ratification, almost 80 years after the Constitution, to finally free all enslaved people for good.
As regions debated the Constitution's contents, so did smaller and larger states. New Hampshire and Rhode Island could never hope to exert any influence over states like Virginia and South Carolina. What followed was a brilliant plan to serve both well - a Bicameral legislative body composed of a House of Representatives based on population and a Senate with two Senators from EVERY state, regardless of size, who would be elected by each state's State Legislators. Finally, they created the inspired genius of the Electoral College, whereby no one state has excessive power to elect their next leader, another unique idea in World History - President. The goal was a true division of powers.
In the end the Federalists, who wanted a limited but strong central government whose intended powers would not extend beyond what the document allowed, would have to compromise with the Anti-federalists who wanted a guarantee of rights that had been neglected to be expressly stated. English Common law, as good as it was, did not go far enough. Thanks to their tireless insistence, all citizens enjoy the benefits of the Bill of Rights.
Rights to vote would be given to all land owning citizens (men and women who inherited land. It was a feat never given to an entire country before them. Over time, that circle would widen to include all male citizens then all freed male slaves. Eventually women would be granted the right to vote, much faster than any country in history had done, but their influence was substantial from the beginning as the wives of these men were also educated, determined, and skilled at exerting wise counsel on their husbands.
They would create a brilliant judicial system influenced by English, Roman, and Hebrew laws with lower, state, and high courts. Every State would create a smaller government modeled after the Federal, and certain powers would remain with the States so the federal government would be limited and the threat of tyranny reduced. Where man is involved however, the quest for power is never completely eliminated, but a document to limit the power of the government emerged... The Constitution.
When the work was done, the document was signed September 17, 1787. It would be almost two years, however, before the Bill of Rights was complete and four before it was added, but these were men who gave and kept their word. It would be done. Maybe the reason citizens don't respect the Founders is they don't know too many men like that anymore.
As Christian Americans, we have never been the majority. America is NOT expressly a Christian nation - influenced yes, but it is not a theocracy. By God's grace, His power, however, has always been mightier than the percentages and numbers of His faithful among the citizenry. He has given wisdom and strength when it was needed. He called men to His purposes for His reasons. To know God is sovereign over war, over debate, over plenty, over want; to know it is He who ordains kings and established kingdoms, it is a humbling experience to have been allowed, by His grace, to be an American. He didn't provide for a great nation to be weak willed and hoard liberty for ourselves. He gave freedom that it might be used to bring His name to the ends of the earth and proclaim what He has done for our souls AND for our daily lives. It is a great blessing to live in America, and none of us were placed here in this time by accident. We stand on the shoulders and in the shadows of great men used for a great purpose. It is not one We The People should ever take for granted.
For the Lord and for liberty,
Jennifer Finch