Constitution Day
Con*sti*tu*tion (kon-ste-tü-shen)
1. n. system of fundamental principles according
to which a nation, state, or society is governed.
2. n. the written set of fundamental principles by which the United
States is governed.
How Others Have Defined The Constitution
“I confess that there are several parts of this
Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never
approve them. For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being
obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even
on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise.”
— Benjamin Franklin, 1787
“My political curiosity, exclusive of my anxious
solicitude for the public welfare, leads me to ask who authorized them (the
framers of the Constitution) to speak the language of ‘We, the People,’ instead
of ‘We, the States’?”
— Patrick Henry, 1788 (Orations of American
Orators)
“As the British Constitution is the most subtle organism
which has proceeded from the womb and long gestation of progressive history, so
the American Constitution is, so far as I can see, the most wonderful work ever
struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.”
— W. E. Gladstone
“The Constitution, on this hypothesis, is a mere thing
of wax in the hands of the Judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any
form they please.”
— Thomas Jefferson
“I am exceedingly distressed at the proceedings of the
Convention—being . . . almost sure, they will . . . lay the foundation of a
Civil War.”
— Elbridge Gerry (Massachusetts Delegate), 1787
“I consider the difference between a system founded on
the legislatures only, and one founded on the people, to be the true difference
between a league or treaty and a constitution.”
— James Madison, at the Constitutional
Convention, 1787
“Let our government be like that of the solar system.
Let the general government be like the sun and the states the planets, repelled
yet attracted, and the whole moving regularly and harmoniously in several
orbits.”
— John Dickinson (Delaware Delegate), 1787
"Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That
must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.”
— Abraham Lincoln
“The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.”
— George Washington
“I also wish that the Pledge of Allegiance were directed
at the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as it is when the President takes
his oath of office, rather than to the flag and the nation.”
— Dr. Carl Sagan
“From Watergate we learned what generations before us
have known; our Constitution works. And during Watergate years it was
interpreted again so as to reaffirm that no one - absolutely no one - is above
the law.”
—Leon Jaworski
“Our new Constitution is now established, and has an
appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be
certain, except death and taxes.”
—Benjamin Franklin
“A Constitution should be short and obscure.”
—Napoleon Bonaparte
"But the right to freedom obviously includes the right
to be foolish. If what I say must be passed over for its sagacity by censors,
however wise and prudent, then I have no free speech. And if what I may believe
- about gall-stones, the Constitution or God - is conditioned by law, then I am
not a free man."
—H. L. Mencken
