So, now that we are past
July 4, semi quincentennial of the Declaration of Independence, don’t sell all
of your flags, sparklers, and other items of celebration. In eleven years,
September 17, 2037, we will celebrate the semi quincentennial of the adoption
of the Constitution.
But, if you need a celebration
a little closer on the horizon, let’s celebrate the Constitution this coming
September 17(Constitution Day) through September 23, those seven days known as
Constitution Week.
Whereas the Declaration
did not form a new government or nation; it merely “Resolved, That these United
Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they
are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political
connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be,
totally dissolved.”
The Constitution did, in
fact, create a nation from thirteen free and independent States.
E Pluribus Unum.
I count the beginning of
our nation as September 17, 1787.when the members of the Constitutional
Convention signed and adopted the document.
I recognize and celebrate
the Constitution more so than the Declaration as the beginning of nationhood.
I acknowledge there are
no long-odds battles won, heroes in blood-stained uniforms, or stories of
sacrifice to effervesce the emotions regarding the Constitution. Probably, the
state-by-state ratification process, as the inevitable became clear, muted
whatever emotional fizz may have been present on September 17, 1787.
But the Constitution,
debated and discussed all summer long in 1787, establishes and articulates the
essence of the United States version of Americanism.
By ratifying the
Constitution of the United States, the independent States, whatever proclaimed religious
views those States previously required, embraced this new law of the Land that
provided, in Article VI, Clause 3, no
religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or
public Trust under the United States.
This very preeminent
right provided by the Constitution, even before the Bill of Rights, established
absolute right of individual conscience, free of State imposed religious acquiescence.
That is worth celebrating
as much or more than the Declaration of Independence.
Actually, the Constitution, after a series
of votes to ratify among the various states, became effective, the law of the
land, on March 4, 1789. But let’s keep it simple for the purpose of celebration
by observing September 17 as Constitution Day.
