I picked up a book from the library, America's Constitution: a biography. I haven't gotten very far in it, but I thought that I'd post a bit from it here & some of my thoughts.
Preface
America's Constitution beckons -- a New World Acropolis open to all. Ordained in the name of the American people, repeatedly amended by them and for them, the document also addresses itself to them. It does its work in strikingly clean prose (as law goes) and with notable brevity. Its full text, including amendments, runs less that eight thousand words, a half hour's read for the earnest citizen. The document's style thus invites us to explore its substance, to visit and regularly revisit America's legal city on a hill.
Acropolis. An interesting choice of words. I wasn't entirely certain what it meant, so the first order of business is to get a definition to work from:
Acropolis (from Wikipedia): Acropolis (Gr. akros, akron, edge, extremity + polis, city, pl. acropoleis) literally means city on the edge (or extremity). For purposes of defense, early settlers naturally chose elevated ground, frequently a hill with precipitous sides.
The Constitution, a "New World Acropolis." A bastion of defense. A well defended hill with "precipitous sides." It's a very interesting analogy for a document. What is it defending? What sort of precipitous fall awaits outside the Constitution? It will be interesting to see what the author has to say about this. The Acropolis is a monument, a wonder of the world. I think that the Constitution is certainly no less.
In a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Savior declared, “I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose” (D&C 101:80). Friend, Sep 1987, Ezra Taft Benson.
Perhaps the precipitous fall is the fall from Divinely Revealed freedoms into the more run-of-the-mill tyranny of ordinary governments. The loss of freedoms and rights our Maker intended for His children to have. President Benson was certainly clear that the Lord is pleased with the Constitution:
But we honor more than those who brought forth the Constitution. We honor the Lord who revealed it. God Himself has borne witness to the fact that He is pleased with the final product of the work of these great patriots.
In a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith on August 6, 1833, the Savior admonished: “I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land” (D&C 98:6).
I reverence the Constitution of the United States as a sacred document. To me its words are akin to the revelations of God, for God has placed His stamp of approval on the Constitution of this land. ibid.
America's Constitution beckons -- a New World Acropolis open to all. Ordained in the name of the American people, repeatedly amended by them and for them, the document also addresses itself to them. It does its work in strikingly clean prose (as law goes) and with notable brevity. Its full text, including amendments, runs less that eight thousand words, a half hour's read for the earnest citizen. The document's style thus invites us to explore its substance, to visit and regularly revisit America's legal city on a hill.
Most citizens have declined the invitation. Many could probably recite at length from some favorite poem, song, speech, or scripture, yet few could quote by heart even a single paragraph of the supreme law of our land, one of the most important texts in world history.
It's sad, but true. I recently became aware of my own Constitutional ignorance. Talking to others around me has revealed theirs, even to include the lady that was recently elected to the State Assembly! She had no better idea of what is in the Constitution than anyone else I've spoken to. Interestingly, her attacks on her opponent were particularly vicious where the opponent (who was well versed in Constitutional ideas and liberties) was championing limited government. Limited government and personal responsibility have become very unpopular ideas of late.
Reading this book is a step in my plan to correct my own ignorance. I feel that, given that nearly every prophet of the restoration as talked about the importance of the Constitution and the Divine origin of the liberties it secures, I should put some time and effort into getting to know it better, to understand the principles that the Founders were trying to put into practice. Clearly there is more at work here than just some good ideas that some smart men got together and wrote about 200-some-odd years ago.
Most citizens have declined the invitation. Many could probably recite at length from some favorite poem, song, speech, or scripture, yet few could quote by heart even a single paragraph of the supreme law of our land, one of the most important texts in world history. Lawyers, politicians, journalists, and opinion leaders converse fluently about legal dictums and doctrines that appear nowhere in the Constitution itself while slighting many intriguing words and concepts that do appear in the document. For instance, we rarely stop to think about what lay beneath the Constitution's promise of a "more perfect Union," or why the Founders required presidents to be at least thirty-five years old, or how the Fourteenth Amendment built upon earlier bans on "Titles of Nobility" when it made everyone "born" in America a "citizen[]." University professors who teach constitutional law often neglect to assign the document itself. The running joke is that reading the thing would only confuse students. The joke captures an important truth. Without background materials placing the Constitution in context, a modern reader may miss much of its meaning and richness.
I certainly would not be able (yet) to recite any of the Constitution. I'm still pondering what I would like to memorize. I may start with just the Preamble. There's so much in there. It does not surprise me at all that Universities neglect the Constitution itself, even in "Constitutional Studies" courses. The Constitution, to my reading, seems to be diametrically opposed to many of the popular ideas about government. We wouldn't want anyone to notice that our own government is operating outside of its authority, now would we! Of course not. If "We the People" were aware, I like to think that We would reign in the government, force it back to its proper place and size, and many who now enjoy power would loose it. Constitutional principle seems to be entirely missing from education, apparently at all levels! No wonder we have no Patriot-statesmen like George Washington or Thomas Jefferson in our day: we are not teaching the potential patriots the principles that would light the fire in them!
This book seeks to reacquaint twenty-first century Americans with the written Constitution. In the pages that follow, I invite readers to join me on an interpretive journey through the document, from its first words to its last clause. Along the way, we shall explore not merely what the Constitutions says, but also how and why it says these things. How did various provisions at the Founding intermesh to form larger patterns of meaning and structures of decision making? How did later generations of constitutional Amenders reconfigure the system? Why did the Founders and Amenders act as they did? What lessons did they deduce from the distant past and from their own experiences? Which historically available models did they copy, and which plausible alternatives did they overlook or reject? What immediate problems were they trying to solve? Which long-range threats and possibilities did they espy on the horizon, and which future developments did they fail to foresee? What material and ideological resources did they command, and what practical constraints did they confront? How and why did their political opponents take issue with them? Who got to participate in the various decisions to ordain and, later, amend America's supreme law?
These are some very interesting questions. I look forward to seeing the author's answers. Right now most of them are things that I have not previously considered.
The Constitution has given rise to a remarkable range of interpretations over the years. In the chapters that follow I offer my own take: This book is an opinionated biography of the document. For example, while I try to say at least something in passing about every paragraph of the document, I pay special attention to those aspects of the Constitution that are, in my view, particularly significant or generally misunderstood. Because readers deserve to be told about other views, this book's endnotes identify contrasting perspectives (and also, where appropriate, furnish additional elaboration). In a brief Postscript, I summarize the main areas where my method and substance are, for better worse, distinctive. For convenience, this book's Appendix contains the complete text of the Constitution, keyed to the corresponding pages of my narrative.
Too bad the main stream media doesn't preface its reporting with a similar disclaimer!
Our story begins -- where else? -- at the beginning, with the Constitution's opening sentence, conventionally known as the Preamble. This sentence bids us to ponder basic questions about our Constitution and our country. How democratic was the Constitution of 1787-1788? Did it bind Americans into an indivisible nation? If so, why?
--Pages xi-xii
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