KrisAnne Hall: Americans Need To Know These 4 Things About the US Constitution or Else America Will Fail
Here are four things all Americans need to know about our Constitution.
1. The Constitution is the standard for government.
Not the Supreme Court. Not a majority vote in Congress. Not the need or will of the people.
“[T]he power of the Constitution predominates. Anything, therefore, that shall be enacted by Congress contrary thereto will not have the force of law.” — James Wilson, Pennsylvania Ratifying Convention, 1787
2. The Constitution is a contract between the states that created the federal government.
It is not an agreement between the feds and the people. That is a temporal impossibility. The federal government cannot be a party to a contract when it didn’t even exist until the contract was ratified.
“[T]he ultimate right of the [states], to judge whether the compact has been dangerously violated, must extend to violations by one delegated authority as well as by another, by the judiciary as well as by the executive, or the legislature.” — James Madison, Report of 1800 on the Virginia Resolutions
3. Original intent is the only legal way to apply the terms of the Constitution.
Contract law dictates that the “meeting of the minds” is the controlling standard for any contract. Ask a professor, pundit or politician if they will allow their employment contract to be applied as a “living breathing document” and quickly see how hypocritical they really are.
“There is no position which depends on clearer principles, than that every act of a delegated authority, contrary to the tenor of the commission under which it is exercised, is void.” — Alexander Hamilton, Federalist 78, 1788
4. The Constitution created a constitutional republic, a government limited and defined by specific enumeration of authority where laws are made by equal representation of the people.
If it is not enumerated, it is not constitutionally authorized. We are not a democracy and our government and its laws are not dictated by majority mob rule.
“I, sir, have always conceived — I believe those who proposed the Constitution conceived — it is still more fully known and more material to observe, that those who ratified the Constitution conceived that this is not an indefinite government … but a limited government tied down to the specified powers.” — James Madison, to the House of Representatives, 1792
This is merely a short list of the many truths we neglect to teach and learn about our Constitution.
The miseducation perpetrated upon the American people is not by accident. It is a coordinated effort to expand the power of those in office and extinguish the inherent liberties of the people.
Our Founders warned us of this danger:
“[N]o People will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when Knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own Weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.” — Samuel Adams to James Warren, 1775
America has the greatest history in the world of liberty and inherent rights for all. No other compares. We have the greatest constitution in the world.
“In that instrument I hold there is neither warrant, license, nor sanction of the hateful thing; but, interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT. Read its preamble, consider its purpose.” — Frederick Douglass, 1852
Our government problems are not because of the failings of the Constitution. The many crises in America are because we are failing to enforce our Constitution and demand those in government operate according to this standard.
That will change and our American experience will cease to decline when the people have the knowledge and courage to turn away from the dictated errant narrative and learn to speak and stand for truth.
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.
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