Thoughts on the Constitution of the United States

“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” These bold words penned by a group of fifty-six men on July 4, 1776 set the stage for not only disputes over economic, human and civil rights, it also sparked an idea of freedom that we still see the effects of even today. After the Declaration of Independence, which I have quote above, 8 years of fighting a war with Great Britain 8 years under the rule of the Articles of Confederation, the ideas expressed in the opening paragraph of the Declaration of Independence set the stage for the Constitution of the United States and solidified the Founding Fathers beliefs in the aforementioned quotation concerning a people’s political ties with a ruling government in the Declaration of Independence. This idea in the context of the birthing of American political ideology I believe led to the ideals that are situated within the Constitution we still revere today.

As I read and re-read through the ideals that our Founding Fathers set forth in the Constitution, my belief in the Constitution of the United States is a living, document specifically designed by the Founding Fathers to be so. I believe that the Founding Fathers knew that they would not be able to solve every problem or predict what social and cultural changes would make. This is evidenced in the very shear of the brevity of the document. It is has only 7 Articles and sets out the principles of how a “good governmental” structure should be. I have heard it said that the Constitution was written by geniuses to be run by idiots. I believe that to be true. When I read the language, it’s baffling to think that 55 men sitting in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania could craft such a document that would be able to briefly, concisely, and decisively deal with many issues while still writing a document that would maintain a safe and secure governmental structure that had the capacity to and in reality did, stand the test of time.

            To qualify my previous statements about sparking and idea of freedom that we still see today, I turn to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This document is the basis for the United Nations. I specifically refer to Article 3 of that document. Article one states, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” Article three states, “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” Article one of the aforementioned document stats, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and right.” Article three of the aforementioned documents states, “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” Compare this to paragraph one in the Declaration of Independence which state, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that and these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” As I previously mentioned, these bold words penned by a group of fifty-six men on July 4, 1776 set the stage for the genesis of the Constitution of the United States which has stood the test of time and has helped many developing countries to form and sustain a democratic system of government.