Today is Constitution Day, a great opportunity to recall the uniqueness of our Constitution and it's influence in affecting government's respect for individual rights around the world. It's a remarkable document for it's vision in resolving competing interests and rights, balancing the power of government, and its flexibility to remain relevant over so much time and allow for amendment to adapt.
The Constitution wasn't written until more than a decade after the Declaration of Independence. The Virginia state constitution was very influential in formulating many of the principles adopted by the U.S. Constitution. Probably foremost is the protection of individual rights specified in the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments. And it was George Mason of Virginia who is credited with leading the urgency to formalize these protections of individual liberty and limit the influence and power of the government. And the philosophical source of these rights, as specified in the Declaration of Independence, and government's obligation to recognize them is God's endowment. Both individuals and government are obligated to Him to respect and protect these rights.
Mason was appointed in 1786 to represent Virginia as a delegate to a Federal Convention, to meet in Philadelphia for the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation....One objection to the proposed Constitution was that it lacked a "declaration of rights". As a delegate to Virginia's ratification convention, he opposed ratification without amendment. Among the amendments he desired was a bill of rights....On December 15, 1791, the U.S. Bill of Rights, based primarily on George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights, was ratified in response to the agitation of Mason and others.
What a precious document this is. Today it condemns America much in the same way the 10 Commandments condemn sinners.
Posted by: Pro Life | September 17, 2009 at 05:08 AM
Unfortunately, the Bill of Rights passed. The first 10 amendments were and are a bad idea, since they have been used by the federal government to imply that we the people have those enumerated rights and no others. Granted, tyrants will always find justification for their tyranny, but the Constitution was fine and dandy without those first 10 amendments since it already reserved for us those rights not granted to the federal government.
Posted by: Dan | September 17, 2009 at 06:46 AM
Frankly, the Constitution was a bad idea. We need to scrap it and go back to the Articles of Confederation, if anything.
Posted by: Rob | September 17, 2009 at 09:07 AM
Thanks, Melinda. I wouldn't have known that it's Constitution Day if I hadn't checked this blog.
Posted by: Kirstin | September 17, 2009 at 01:12 PM
Do we still have a Constitution?
Posted by: Mike Westfall | September 17, 2009 at 04:08 PM
Dan and Rob,
You’ll probably like this quote by Hamilton then:
“I go further, and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and in the extent in which they are contended for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed constitution, but would even be dangerous. They would contain various exceptions to powers which are not granted; and on this very account, would afford a colorable pretext to claim more than were granted. For why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do?”
Very interesting. I'd be interested in thoughts on this...
Posted by: KWM | September 18, 2009 at 07:04 AM