When the Constitution was written it was a different world than the one we live in today. Was there any way for the authors of this great document to foresee the issues and concerns of our day? No. This to me is why it is amazing that the Constitution has been bent but not broken.
Courts, congress, and presidents have been able to interpret or bend the Constitution to adapt to ever changing issues and political environments. While they have been able to interpret it to help their causes it has only been amended a total of 27 times in over 200 years. Pretty remarkable for a period of time that encompasses numerous wars, constant changes in technological advancement, a never ending influx of new citizens and cultures, and a global economy that the founding fathers could not have imagined.
To me the Constitution has an elastic quality that is unequaled in any other document you will find. Its elasticity allows us to interpret what the founders of our country originally wrote to fit in our turbulent and changing times, while its strength will make sure that we never break it.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The Amazing Elasticity of the US Constitution
The Following is a post by Jonathan Metzler:
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3 comments:
The most impressive comment you made, Jonathan, is that the Constitution ergo our government has been able to support a "never ending influx of new citizens and cultures." Our Constitution was written from the perspective that the American people, whether they be White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, or Arabic are afforded the same rights and declarations regardless of their ethnicity or cultural background. I think the founders designed it for humans, not for any particular variety of human.
For a group of fairly uneducated and inexperienced men, they certainly understood human nature extremely well. The proof is exactly what you said about how the Constitution will be able to adapt while maintaining its strength.
This is a really cool comment.
As I read over the constitution and the Bill of Rights I am amazed at the understanding and forsight that these men had. But they'd been through hard times and they understood that a little power and control could be used against the majority. They had all lived in oppressive situations and lived through difficult times.
To me, this real life experience is worth much more than anything understanding they could've gained through text books. Their experiences gave them the passion and drive to create change for the future. I am grateful that they had the vision and understanding of human nature that they had. They were extremely intelligent in understanding how to structure this government that they had envisioned. It is something that I believe they were each here to do.
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