Summation with appropriate updates from the Preamble to our Constitution:
We the People of the United States, in Order to maintain a more perfect Union, restore Justice, regain domestic Tranquility, strengthen the common defense, improve the general Welfare, and solidify the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do reinforce and reclaim this Constitution for the United States of America.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—We further affirm that after great loss of life, the institution of Slavery has been removed like a scourge from our nation. Before that Great Unpleasantness, to secure these rights, Governments were instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of all of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.
After establishment of this Constitution of these United States of America, a Democratic Republic was formed. Not a Democracy, as some would have you believe. That would indicate a majority rule society which is flawed. Imagine if a population of 51% wolves and 49% Sheep voted on what to have for dinner. That would be a pure democracy.
America is not a true Republic either. We are a Constitutional Republic relegating some powers to the Federal Government while preserving the election of Federal representatives to make decisions on our behalf.
A republic operates under a constitution that outlines the structure of government, defines its powers, and protects fundamental rights by limiting the power of the Federal, Judicial, and Legislative government to prevent tyranny and protect individual liberties. The division was called “Checks and Balance”
Shortly after the ratification of the original, virgin U.S. Constitution came this:
We also establish these Amendments to the adopted Constitution of these United States not in total: (Ratified in 1791 by all States)
Amendment #1: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment #2: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment #5: No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb, nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment #10: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
This altered wording from the Gettysburg Address was appropriate 28 years after our Nation’s Founding and at the close of the “War of Northen Aggression”. I quote President Lincoln (With appropriate insertions for current days)
“Twelve score and nine years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”Credit to President Abraham Lincoln (Nov 19th, 1863)
It is my prayer on this weekend of Independence Day celebration we all focus on the powers we rebelled and prevailed against in 1775. Let us pull together as a One Nation, under God, Indivisible, with Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
God Bless and Make America Great Again.
