AFA of PA ACTION ALERT
September 17, 2021
Issue
Constitution Day 2021
Details
Questions every American should be asking include:
- Has the President overreached his constitutional authority?
- Is Congress going beyond the limited authority it was given by the Constitution?
- Isn’t the US Constitution being twisted in order to advance a certain political agenda?
- Does the Constitution really say that?
- Did the writers of the US Constitution really mean it to be interpreted the way it is today?
The United States Constitution was signed on this day in 1787. This was our second attempt at a national governing document. The 1777 Articles of Confederation, which went into effect in 1781, quickly proved to be inadequate. In 1786 the Annapolis Convention called for a group to assemble to address the many weaknesses.
After months of sometimes contentious debate, the Constitution was introduced to the citizens of the new nation. Did you know that many of the delegates involved in the writing of the Constitution were trained in theology or ministry? Abraham Baldwin, James Wilson, Hugh Williamson, Oliver Ellsworth are a few examples. The Constitution was then sent to the states for ratification. Among the delegates selected, the states elected about four dozen clergymen to serve in the ratification process for the Constitution.
U.S. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge stated in 1919:
“The United States is THE WORLD’S BEST HOPE…
Beware how you trifle with your marvelous inheritance … for if we stumble & fall, freedom & civilization everywhere will go down in ruin.” However, in recent years attacks on our Constitution have increased, as well as the idea that there is any Christian influence on the founding of this nation or the writing of the Constitution. Messiah College (Cumberland County) professor Dr. John Fea has been an outspoken critic of the idea the United States had a Christian founding and recently insisted that the Founding Fathers did not want the clergy to be involved in politics.
The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the Constitution’s age is a mark against it. Asked in a 2012 interview whether Egypt’s new government should look to other constitutions for guidance, Ginsburg replied, “I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the Constitution of South Africa.”
She added that Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms might also be a good place to start, as it is “much more recent than the U.S. Constitution. … It dates from 1982.”
Judge Richard Posner (Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals 1981-2017) wrote in an op-ed for Slate that he “[sees] absolutely no value to … studying the Constitution.” His reasoning: “Eighteenth-century guys, however smart, could not foresee the culture, technology, etc., of the 21st century.”
Action Steps
Federal law requires that every year on Constitution Day all public schools must hold a special program on the Constitution. Is your local school going to follow the law today?
We encourage you to read the Constitution today and take some time to talk to your children and/or grandchildren about its history and importance.
Hillsdale College also offers free online classes on the Constitution.
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