The Constitution

To understand the “original intent” of the U.S. Constitution, one must understand the context of its forming, and to some extent, get inside the minds of the men who formed it. As to the context;

The first attempt at adopting a constitution that would unite the thirteen colonies started immediately after the declaration of independence was sent to England. The Articles of Confederation were started in 1777, and were finally ratified in 1781. These articles dealt with forming a representative government with representatives from each state in the “United States of America”. This confederation was primarily concerned with how to deal with the war with the British, interaction with foreign countries, and with resolving state’s claims on land in the western territories. Each state in the union was viewed as a sovereign entity, who would send representatives to the congress of the confederation whenever that body met.  For several years after the war with England was over, the articles of confederation were amended and modified. Eventually, a new constitution was written in 1787 and finally ratified by the final state in 1790.

“We the people in order to form a more perfect union”. A union had been established, but a more perfect one was possible. This more perfect union would establish, a contract between the states that secured a nation built upon individual rights and representative government. This more perfect union was also “more perfect” than the government of England. In England the executive and half of the legislative body (Parliament),  held office for life. In our new form of government only a small judicial body would hold office for life. This new constitution built the foundation of a government that contained the checks and balances necessary to have a nation that would live in perpetuity.

As to the minds of the founders.

Part of the difficulty with understanding the “intent” of the men who debated for months on the content of the new constitution, is that the deliberations were intentionally kept secret. Secret deliberations would be honest deliberations was the idea. So much of what we know about the thoughts that went into this magnificent framework will never be known except through the careful study of the diaries and correspondences of the drafters. There are constitutional scholars that have spent decades trying to discern what the drafters intended for each article. These experts have written many books and articles on the subject. These experts have advised the supreme court, who is to determine exactly how the constitution is to be interpreted in every case that is brought before it. The decisions of the justices are supposed to represent the original intent of the law.  The concepts that gave birth to the constitution are also represented in the writings of the men that influenced the founders. Writers such as John Locke, Charles de Montesquieu and Thomas Paine had a great influence on the concepts of the constitution.

It is not the purpose of this blog to debate each article and its original intent. The ability to get at exactly what the founders intended is probably not the issue. The issues we are faced with today as a nation are issues that result from a more general breakdown of the intent of the constitution. We know that many things are working very well. We also know that many things are not working. For example; Did the founders conceive of a federal government that is the number one employer in the nation? Did the founders conceive of a nation that taxes its citizens to such a degree that the average person pays 20 percent of their income to the government? Did the founders conceive of a government that is comprised primarily of two political parties, where affiliation with the party is the driving force behind most legislative decisions, and even many judicial decisions? Did the founders conceive of a nation made up of such a large and culturally diverse population? Many of the issues we are faced with as a nation result from general trends in legislation, and general trends in the population that have changed the political and social landscape. This new landscape is a huge impressionist’s painting of what the founders envisioned.

The question is; Is the constitution obsolete? Have we as a nation moved so far from the assumptions built into that sacred document, that it is no longer relevant. Have the thousands of laws, and the thousands of judicial decisions regarding those laws, made the bill of rights just something to teach in grade school.  Has our society reached a point where “rights” not even conceived of in the constitution, such as privacy and diversity, have  become more sacred than rights explicitly stated in it, such as not allowing government  seizure of property. Has our society reached a point where we have allowed ourselves to not just to be entangled, but to be completely constrained by our foreign affairs just so we can by a cheap television.  The fundamental questions must be answered.

First, Can our constitution still work? Second, What must change about our government to make it work. And finally, how must we as a people change to make it work?