Celebrate the Constitution

To the Editor:

Think of a government on the brink of anarchy. This was where the 13 American states found themselves under the Articles of Confederation during, and after, the Revolutionary War. The Confederation provided a shallow compact between 13 sovereign states who were, as one founding father put it, "behaving badly." Each state was working independently and with little or no regard for the other states. Congress was weak, "toothless" and bankrupt, unable to force monetary support from the states, unable to protest against foreign invasion or defend against internal insurrections, unable to make treaties. Even before the peace treaty was signed ending the war, there was a movement backed by some in the military to urge George Washington to "accept the crown: and become King George I of the United States. He was appalled! America was in a very real crisis. Would the leaders be able to write a constitution that would allow men self-government without dissolving into anarchy and also establish a government of laws that did not evolve into tyranny? This was the enormous challenge facing the founding fathers. The result of their intense and thoughtful labor was nothing short of a miracle!

America was blessed to have leaders like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton, among many others, who were true public servants. They were thinkers and movers, who were highly educated in the classics and world history, both ancient and modern. They understood the stability of a government of free people is threatened by either too much or too little control. Thomas Jefferson, speaking of the need to balance these two extremes, said, "We are now vibrating between too much and too little government and the pendulum will rest finally in the middle."

Influenced by the Moses-instituted government described in the Bible and the similar government of the Angelo Saxons, along with basic, widely-held core beliefs regarding natural law as proclaimed in The Declaration of Independence that all are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and the belief that the purpose of government is to protect those rights, the founding fathers set about creating our Constitution.

The government formed by our constitution, signed Sept. 17, 1787, has produced the most prosperous and powerful nation in the world--populated by a free people--an example for other nations. For this we Americans should give thanks to God (as did the founders) and be quick to celebrate the Constitution.

We must not only celebrate the freedom guaranteed in our Constitution, we must also work to insure we continue to be free. Our celebration must call each of us to become good citizens by studying the Constitution and discovering the true intent of its writers. We must become involved in the political process, being careful to search out the issues and use whatever influence we have to perpetuate the principles of government set forth by the founding fathers. We must vote as an informed public. It is up to us to pass the freedoms we enjoy to our children and grandchildren. Our freedoms must be maintained, for without maintenance everything erodes.

The celebration of Constitution Week was begun many years ago by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The society petitioned congress in 1955 to set aside September. 17th through the 23rd each year as Constitution Week--a time to celebrate this historic document that is the foundation of our United States. President Eisenhower signed it into law in 1956.

Louise Marvin

Poplar Bluff Chapter

NSDAR