2020 | Week of September 14 | Radio Transcript #1377
WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
What an amazing preamble to the charter document of our great nation, the Constitution of the United States of America! Think about those words, drafted during the long months of the Constitutional Convention, adopted on the 17th day of September, 1787, and ratified by the states the following year.
The Constitution, the Supreme Law of the Land, was adopted in order to 1) form a “more perfect,” or better, union of the independent states than the loose Articles of Confederation had; 2) establish justice. I love that – the Constitution was written to provide a firm foundation for justice in the land; 3) To insure domestic tranquility, to keep the peace; 4) provide for the common defense – to protect our shores; 5) to promote the general welfare, and please note that does not mean to provide welfare for everyone in general. It means to create a national atmosphere economically and socially that promotes the welfare or the good of the people; and 6) to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. We are the posterity, friends.
In April of 1777, while the Continental Army fought the British and John Adams was attending the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Adams wrote his wife Abigail: “Posterity! you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.”
We enjoy the blessings of liberty because our forefathers secured it with their blood, their fortunes, their wisdom, their passion and their love of liberty. What a heritage we have! And, we now have a day set aside each year to commemorate that incredible heritage, and the founding of our nation.
Created by federal legislation in 2004, Constitution Day, formerly Citizenship Day, is a federal holiday recognized this year on Thursday, September 17, 233 years to the day after the Continental Congress adopted the Constitution. The law mandates that on this day all publicly funded schools and schools receiving any federal money provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution.
For a change we have gotten something right in the education arena. All Americans should be well versed on our nation’s Constitution and should have a good knowledge of how it came to be, what it does and how it affects our country.
And when children do learn about the Constitution, what will they learn? How will our children be taught to view the constitution?
Will they learn to view it through the eyes of the Founders, as a document that is based on the intent of our Founding Fathers, a document designed to deal with man’s depravity and to restrict government’s reach in all areas? Or will they be taught that our Constitution is a “living document” that changes with society and the times and is subject to judicial whim?
I urge parents everywhere to find out what your children will learn about the Constitution in their schools this Constitution Day. Beyond that take advantage of this built-in opportunity to read the Constitution together and to teach your children about the history of this document, the men behind it–and their wives–and the incredible concepts of liberty, responsibility, accountability and justice contained in the one-of-a-kind document. I would suggest resources such as wallbuilders.com providencefoundation.org for an accurate, historical take on the Constitution.
Every generation is responsible for maintaining the liberty that previous generations have sacrificed to secure. This is our time! If we do not defend the Constitution because we don’t have a good understanding of its worth and its principles, then we are in danger of being hoodwinked into losing our American birthright of liberty and our children and grandchildren will pay a terribly high price.
For Wisconsin Family Council, this is Julaine Appling, reminding you the Prophet Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
