Our peculiar security is in the possession of a written Constitution, wrote Thomas Jefferson. In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson articulated a revolutionary insight the implications of which still reverberate to this day: the people are endowed by God with certain inalienable rights and that the chief purpose of government is to protect these natural rights. Jefferson, though, knew that simply asserting that individuals possessed natural rights did not mean that such rights would be respected by government. Thus, the Constitution needed to be designed in such a way that would enable self-government while also safeguarding those natural, God-given individual rights that should not be subject to the whims of the political process. The debates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 in Philadelphia represent the most important debates on political theory in American history. Drafting a constitution against the backdrop of centuries of failed attempts at republican forms of government, the convention delegates knew that, in the words of Alexander Hamilton, it fell to them 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. Their handiwork -- creating a government of limited and enumerated powers, separating the core functions of government into three distinct branches, arming each branch with the capacity to check the other, recognizing the sovereignty of the states in local matters, and extending the sphere of the republic to dilute the power of entrenched constituencies -- answered the call better than any constitution that had come before. We tend to look back and just assume that creating a durable constitution was a fait accompli, but it was anything but a sure thing. Many delegates feared the convention could fail, and Benjamin Franklin at one point even appealed for divine intervention to help the delegates. But the significance of the final creation was not lost on the delegates. As he observed the delegates signing the Constitution at the conclusion of the convention, Franklin referenced the sun that was displayed behind the chair of George Washington, who was presiding over the convention. I have often looked at that behind the president without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting, Franklin told the delegates. That the convention produced a written constitution resolved Franklins doubts: But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun. Happy Constitution Day!
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 15:34:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015