Constitution Day offers chance to reflect on country’s founding

Constitution Day is Monday, Sept. 17. On that day, citizens of the United States and abroad celebrate the fore-thought of the Founding Fathers who wrote the U.S. Constitution that has governed our nation since 1789.

This may apply more-so today, when the Constitution appears to be central to many discussions and it is an all important election year, with a great deal of rhetoric about what the Constitution really says and what it does not. In light of the current political climate, it is a perfect time for citizens to refresh their memories about the U.S. Constitution.

First of all, the U.S. Constitution is a document that embodies the fundamental laws and principles by which the citizens of the United States of America have been governed, since it was officially ratified in 1789.

Our U.S. Constitution was drafted by a group known as the Founding Fathers, at the Constitutional Convention, called at Philadelphia in 1787. According to Article III of this document, it is the Supreme Law of the Land. Once it was drafted and submitted to the state legislatures for ratification, there was much debate over the merits of the new document. The country had been governed by the Articles of Confederation, drafted in 1771, but after 10 years, legislators in the unicameral government observed the government was paralyzed and ineffectual. Thus, the Constitutional Convention was called and it was up to the state legislators to ratify the newly drafted U.S. Constitution.

Initially, three of the Founding Fathers; James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, set about to defend the document in what became known as “The Federalist Papers.” The essays were published anonymously in the Philadelphia newspapers under the name of Publius, between October 1787 and August 1788. The 85 essays that constitute as ”The Federalist Papers” are famous because they help people understand the intentions of the Founding Fathers, who framed the U.S. Constitution. Especially important is No. 51, which explains the structure of the new government and its system of checks and balances, as well as why the Constitution was written to protect the rights of the people and is an integral part of the government. The Constitution spells out in great detail what the Legislative Branch has the power to do with very few statements about what it cannot do.

The Executive Branch is not as detailed because the Founding Fathers felt it would evolve based on the circumstances of the day.

It took a few years for the Judicial Branch to determine their role in the newly formed three-pronged government, with co-equal branches. Led by John Marshall, when he became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, judicial review of Constitutional questions became established through Marbury vs. Madison. The Supreme Court firmly established their role as a check on the other two branches. Though, this has caused controversy throughout the country’s history as there have been questions about the court being activists and attempting to legislate from the bench, which is not their job.

All this begins at the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, because it established the reasons for forming the new type of government and gave specific reasons for the newly written document submitted to the people in 1787.

The Founding Fathers also specified a process for amending the U.S. Constitution. In order to prevent arbitrary changes, a process was put in place for an amendment, which requires a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress, and then it must be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures. There have been 27 Amendments added to the U.S. Constitution since its inception. The first 10 are known as the Bill of Rights, written to protect the rights of citizens. One amendment has been repealed, and 17 have been added since the initial ratification of the Bill of Rights.

There also is a second method to amend the U.S. Constitution but it has never been used. It is initiated by the people, through their state legislative body and ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures, as in the first method. The only difference is, it is initiated by the people.

Our system of government was designed with three co-equal branches operating in cooperation with the other. When there is no co-operation, the system fails. The system has checks and balances, if applied properly, that will not allow one branch of government to be more powerful than the other.