| The CAMC
Seminar |
|
| Council for America My
Country |
|
"To Empower to Practise Good
Citizenship" |
|
| 965 Clover Court, Blue Bell, PA 19422 |
T: (610) 277-0149 |
F: (610) 277-3992 |
E:camc@icasinc.org |
Jerry Boucher
Im Ja P. Choi
Steve S. Choi
Mary Etezady
Don Kim
Il Hwan Kim
Sang Joo Kim
|
Director for Systems Management
Director for Community Relations
Deputy Director for Voter Registration
Advisor
Secretary
Director for Outreach
Chairman |
Tae Shik Kwon
Jae Jin Ma
Willie Pai
Choon Ki Yoo
Ae Sook Yoon
Il Joong Yoon |
Director for Community Relations
Treasurer
Deputy Secretary
Deputy Director for Outreach
Director for Ageing & Elder Care
Director for Voter Registration |
The CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
The Honorable Horace A. Davenport,
Senior Judge
Court of Common Pleas
Montgomery County Court House
Norristown, PA 19404
Monday, August 7, 2000
Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is my pleasure to speak to you on the Constitution, the second of
your series of public seminars on major landmarks, documents, and papers
that shaped the character of this great country, America. I was asked
to speak specifically about the Spirit of the Constitution and what it
means today. This is a great document, with a history which is
impossible to condense into a twenty minute talk.
By way of a little history however let me tell you that long ago --
beginning in 1620, America composed of 13 Colonies, subject to the will,
authority, and whims of the King of England. The original colony,
Massachusetts, came in 1620 and expanded to 13 original colonies over
time.
In the beginning life was indeed difficult. England unfairly taxed the
colonists and dictated that they were subject to the will of the King of
England in all matters. England closed the colonies out of its West
Indian trade. Spain closed the mouth of the Mississippi River, which
was so essential to commerce with settlements in the west. The
Continental Congress had an army of 700 men. There was a shortage of
hard cash, and this lack of hard cash was one of the principal factors
in causing revolt in the colonies. Life was indeed difficult. England
had the colonies in an economic bind, and it was in response to that
situation and the general feeling of unfairness that the Declaration of
Independence was drawn up and signed in 1776. The states thereby ended
190 years of rule by representatives of the King of England.
Following the Declaration of Independence came the Articles of
Confederation (1780 -- 1787). This document preceded the Constitution,
but these Articles were not what were needed to knit all of the states
together. But experience with the Articles certainly helped the
colonists to understand what was needed. Under the Articles of Confederation,
each state was sovereign power unto itself, and Congress was simply one body
with each state having one vote. There was no real executive. The
President was required to be a member of Congress, and his term was
only for one year. There was no overall Judicial authority. Such
powers as existed were exercised by Congress, and that was very limited.
Among the problems faced were: how to regulate trade between the states;
what about tariffs; how were taxes to be levied; what body has the power
to decide what would be acceptable to all. There was a power vacuum.
It was crystal clear that government under the Articles of Confederation
would not work. The states -- each one -- was running in its own way
without regard for any other state.
So in 1787, Representatives of the states met in Philadelphia for the
sole purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation. This meeting
became the Constitutional Convention. It was not a large gathering,
because only 55 men attended from the first session to the last session.
However, that was a body of men, well fitted to produce a great
document.
A large majority were lawyers; most of them had had experience in
governance; and nearly all of them were either men of large property
interests or close to men who had such interests. All were highly
educated and dedicated to take task of making the government work.
They decided that the Articles of Confederation were inadequate and
moved that a national government ought to be established, consisting
of a legislature, an executive department, and a judiciary branch,
all co-equal. So that is what they set out to fashion. Without going
into detail about the many compromises which had to be made and the
great effort and brilliance which was required to chisel out the
document we have today, I will say that it took four (4) months, from May to
September, to complete the document. On September 17, 1787 the draft
was signed by 39 members. Then it had to be approved or rejected by
all states. The ratification (or approval) took until June 25, 1788.
The guiding spirit of our Constitution is:
- The United States Government is subject to the will of its people.
The convention chose a representative type of government-a union of
states in which each state surrendered some of its power to the
central government, while retaining independence in local matters.
- All power is divided between three (3) co-equal departments: the
legislative, the executive and the judicial. And, lastly, there is
a built-in system of checks and balances:
- The president may veto legislative acts
- Congress may refuse to grant money to carry out the President's
plans or policies
- The Senate may withhold the necessary approval of the President's
appointments
- The President may be impeached for treason, bribery or other high
crimes and misdemeanors
- The Judiciary holds a check on the President and Congress by its
power to declare their acts unconstitutional
- In turn, the Judiciary is subject to check by the President and the
Congress through impeachment and through their power to reduce the
jurisdiction of the Judiciary.
When you condense the spirit of the Constitution down to the barest
facts, they are that the government devised by members of the
Constitutional Convention in 1787 was unlike any other government of
the time. Part of the new government was copied from England. Some of
it was based on practical governmental experience gained first under
the colonial rule and later under the Continental Congress and the
Articles of Confederation. The remainder was specifically designed
to meet the current needs and desires of the American people.
When the Constitution first went into effect, many people were skeptical
of its success. Few of its creators dreamed that it would outlive the
existing governments of most other major nations. None could foresee
that it would survive the westward expansion that blanketed the country,
a bitter Civil War, two World Wars in the 20th century and this -- not
to mention the Korean and the Viet Nam Wars, as well as other conflicts.
Today, our government, operating under the same Constitutional framework
as in 1789 has become the leading democratic nation in the world. The
quality of the workmanship of the framers of the Constitution and the
vitality of the resulting Constitution is reflected in our form of
government that has endured virtually unchanged. Although we sometimes
disagree about what the delegates meant when they wrote the
Constitution,
our disagreement revolves around a core, and this disagreement has not
lead to fragmentation of the States. The Civil War was not about
becoming
fragments. What we have is a frame within which to live.
Our democracy is not without flaws, but it works, and the constant
challenge is to improve it and to make it work better. There are those
who have recently called for a re-examination of decisions made by our
courts, including the ban on school prayers, support of affirmative
action,
the Miranda Decision and others. Disagreement has its place, for it can
lead us to discussions as to what the Founding Fathers meant. Part of
being a U. S. Citizen means you can make arguments on either side of any
issue.
When the delegates finished their work, they had a document 4000 words
long. It is noteworthy that the original Constitution did not deal with
any personal rights. It did however allow for Amendments, and
interestingly the first ten Amendments make up our Bill of Rights which
deal with personal rights, SUCH AS FREEDOM OF RELIGION, FREEDOM OF
SPEECH, FREEDOM FROM UNREASONABLE SEARCHES AND SEIZURE, RIGHT TO JURY TRIAL,
RIGHT TO VOTE AND OUTLAWING SLAVERY. Subsequently, 16 other Amendments
were added.
If I could ask you to remember one thing, it would be this: The
Constitution is a frame within which we live and manage our affairs as
citizens of the United States. It has no fixed meaning; it must
constantly be interpreted. That is the job of the Court. While we
may disagree on the issues and interpretations, we can all agree that
the framework of our government is still the best in the world. It
requires of all of us diligence, patience, and the exercise of those
rights and privileges that were outlined 200 years ago by 55 men in
Philadelphia. It is a living document and will probably undergo further
changes in the future.
(N.B. A copy of the Constitution
of the United States is posted on this web site.)
CAMC is a not-for-profit,
nonpartisan, civic and educational organisation. It promotes ways to enhance
good citizenship and its practice. It is solely supported by voluntary
contributions.CAMC
strives to provide public service pro bono publico in the public interest.
All staff members are non-paid volunteers.
This page last updated 7/5/2001 jdb
|
|