When July 4 rolls around, there’s no mistaking it. There are fireworks, parades and other patriotic tributes to our Declaration of Independence. If you’re like most Americans, Sept. 17 comes and goes without any fanfare.
It’s a shame, really. Constitution Day may lack the flair and pageantry of our national birthday, but without this landmark document that carefully outlined the form of our republic, it’s unlikely we’d still be celebrating the declaration in the 21st century.
How can we make sense of our history without a proper understanding of the Constitution? How can we know, for example, why President Lincoln was willing to endure a bloody civil war (one that came perilously close to costing him re-election in 1864) to preserve the union if we don’t know how that union works and how it was formed?
For that matter, good luck making sense out of the cases heard by the U.S. Supreme Court and various appellate courts every year without an understanding of the Constitution. If you don’t know what it permits and what it doesn’t, an informed opinion about the decisions they reach is impossible.
So many government agencies make decisions every day that affect our lives. How can we know if they are acting within the law — or if they are pushing the limits, as those who are entrusted with power so often do — if the Constitution is unfamiliar to us?
There’s a reason our Constitution has endured for so long. Few of them do.
Why Our Constitution Has Endured
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