Today is Constitution Day, a holiday that warrants greater recognition and celebration
Christopher Tremoglie
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Inexplicably, Constitution Day does not get the recognition it deserves. Sept. 17 commemorates the date when one of the most important documents ever was written.
The significance of the Constitution and Sept. 17th is comparable to July 4th and the Declaration of Independence. However, the day goes unnoticed by most of the country. It is a cultural slight that should undoubtedly change.
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The Founders coveted liberty and aspired to create a system of limited government that protected each individual’s cherished rights endowed by God. They sought inspiration from European philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Locke, Charles Montesquieu, and Thomas Hobbes, as well as historical documents such as the Magna Carta. They knew that liberty was an essential principle that needed protection and must always be guarded. Thus, the Constitution was born after weeks of spirited and intellectual debate in the summer heat of 18th-century Philadelphia.
The Constitution’s most vital principles come from the assurance that government is responsible and obliged to the people. And most importantly, if the government is perceived to fail to uphold this promise, the Constitution says people have the right to form a “more perfect union” through fair elections and recognizes that true governmental authority comes from the governed. Unlike British tyranny or the feudalist systems that dominated the world at the time, the brilliance of the Constitution comes from three little words in its preamble, which specified who was truly in charge: “We the People.”
The Constitution of the United States is the world’s “longest surviving written charter of government” and also its shortest. And it specifically differed from other democratic governing frameworks. The framers also knew how power corrupts and the negative ramifications that resulted from such abuses.
James Madison, widely regarded as the father of the Constitution, argued for these principles and ideas because he was aware of how democracy could be corrupted. Unlike previous constitutions of the time, the American system also sought to restrict many of the negative temptations associated with democracy through checks and balances and a federalist system of governance. Madison warned of the intentions and ambitions of people in power.
“In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever character composed, passion never fails to wrest the scepter from reason. Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob,” Madison wrote in Federalist No. 55.
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Madison and the other founders yearned for freedom after living under an oppressive monarchy for years. They created a federal government that gave power to the people. After intense debates, those intellectual battles resulted in the Constitution of the United States. It is a document that changed the world’s governing dynamics.
Constitution Day is the 17th of September and commemorates the events that transpired in 1787. It marked a philosophical, political, cultural, and historical evolution and transformation and forever changed the history of the world. It is a holiday that shouldn’t live in the shadow of July 4th and warrants its own festivities. This and every Constitution Day deserves greater recognition and celebration.