Secretary of State Kemp Recognizes Constitution Week

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp today recognized the beginning of Constitution Week, a weeklong commemoration of the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787.

“Constitution Week is an opportunity to reflect on and appreciate the unique rights, freedoms and individual liberty we enjoy as citizens of the United States,” said Secretary Kemp. “I ask all Georgians to join me this week as we honor the drafters of our Constitution, and the heroes who have fought and died to defend it.”

Two Georgians, Abraham Baldwin and William Few, participated in the Constitutional Convention and signed the Constitution. On January 2, 1788, Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

To celebrate Constitution Week, the Secretary of State’s office is collaborating with the Daughters of the American Revolution to display Governor Sonny Perdue’s Proclamation for Constitution Week and a Constitution Week poster at the Georgia Archives in Morrow. The Daughters of the American Revolution will also have Constitution booklets, patriotic pencils and U.S. flags available for visitors.

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Celebrate the Constitution-- with Super Amercian Kids

Love it, love it, love it.  Love to Celebrate the Constitution!




Super job, kids!

Brought to you by the James Waldrop Chapter DAR, Fayetteville, GA

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What is the Constitution?

Take a look at the award winning short film entered by Katie Strawinski of Georgia in the Constituting America's We the People 9.17 contest.

Celebrate the Constitution.  Today is Constitution Day and the 223rd anniversary of the signing of the Constitution.

Read the Constitution.  Know the Constitution.  Know your rights as Americans!










Brought to you by the James Waldrop Chapter DAR in Fayetteville, GA.

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Article I of the U.S. Constitution

Editor's Note:  This is a great article about the Constitution and the liberties that our government has taken with it over the years.    I imagine the Founding Fathers would be nervous to see the changes in the government's power.  After all, didn't the patriots of the American Revolution rebel against the government with too much power?

Friday is the 223rd anniversary of the signing of the Constitution.  Remember to celebrate the Constitution.



Article I of the U.S. Constitution
By Adam Bitely

After the Revolutionary War, the Founding Fathers were nervous about a strong executive. This can be seen in the way that they wrote the Constitution. Our nation’s founders decided to create a stronger legislative branch than that of the executive branch as established in Article II. The Founders intended the legislative branch to check the powers of the President as well as be a voice of all the people.

By design, the legislative branch is weak in the sense that there is no one person holding all of the power....http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=2635

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Sing It Loud! What The Constitution Means to Me...

Constitution Day is September 17.  This year marks the 223rd anniversary of the framing of this great document which forms the basis of our government.

Celebrate the Constitution, celebrate OUR Constitution.

Sing it loud.  Sing it proud.  Sing it, America!








Brought to you by the James Waldrop Chapter DAR, Fayetteville, GA


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Online Constitution Hub Beta to Launch September 17

/PRNewswire/ -- The Constitutional Sources Project, a DC-based non-profit, announces the beta launch of its redesigned online library of constitutional sources, ConSource.org, set for September 16, 2010, the day before Constitution Day. The beta launch coincides with an announcement that Overstock.com and Chairman and CEO Patrick Byrne will support future development of ConSource by matching every dollar raised before December 31, 2010 up to $100,000.

The redesigned ConSource beta to be launched September 16 showcases central features of what will soon be the premier online constitutional history hub, providing access to source documents, guides, and teacher and student resources for researching, understanding, and discussing the history of the Constitution and its Amendments. Over the next six months, additional development made possible by new donations and the Overstock matching grant will bring advanced features to the new ConSource, such as community-driven document digitization and annotation, as well as tools that will enable and incentivize document owners and archives to make their collections available to the public.

The beta launch will be held at the Library of Congress' Montpelier Room beginning at 6:00 p.m., celebrated with the announcement of a high school essay-writing competition and speeches by two former United States solicitors general, Walter Dellinger and Paul Clement, discussing constitutional legal history in front of a live audience of 100 and a broadcast audience of 15 law schools. The event will be broadcast on www.ConSource.org at 6:00 p.m. EDT.

Dr. Byrne's generous pledge was inspired by his passion for freedom and technology. "I am pro-freedom and therefore pro-ConSource." said Byrne. "Creating a way for all to understand and relive the history of the Constitution will revitalize the roots of liberty we all cherish." In creating this challenge grant for ConSource, Byrne follows in the footsteps of one of his favorite Founders, Benjamin Franklin, who was possibly the first to utilize matching donations as a way to stimulate contributions for a hospital he helped build in Philadelphia.

Funds raised this year in connection with Byrne's challenge will build upon the beta site launched September 16, dramatically expanding the ConSource library by allowing any institution or user in possession of Founding-era documents to upload and have them digitized by ConSource users.

Coming from Byrne, who has led Overstock.com to become a profitable, highly trafficked online retailer, this match will allow ConSource to lead the way in providing free access to the first-hand records of constitutional history.

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Do You Really Know the Constitution?

How familiar are you with the Constitution of the United States? So you think you really know how to celebrate the Constitution? Here's a great way to see how much you really know.

Check it out....

http://sovereigntyalliance.ning.com/profiles/blogs/required-quizzes-for

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Bribing Not Allowed by Virture of the Constitution

Article II of the United States Constitution clearly states the requirement for obtaining the office of the President.

In addition, Article II Section 4 clearly states:

"The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Our Constitution is the oldest surviving Constitution in the world. Will it be upheld if challenged in court by those who wish to have massive power by neglecting "We the People"?

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Vote! It's Part of the Constitution

The 15th amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1870. This amendment provides for any man, of any race, who is a citizen of the United States the right to cast a vote in an election. It wasn't until the 19th amendment, ratified in 1920, that women were provided the same right.

No matter when, or which, amendment gave you the legal right to vote, please exercise that right today.

Our Constitution provides you the opportunity to vote. So just do it.

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Rebelling Against the Feds Not New

"The Tenth Amendment is the foundation of the Constitution."
-Thomas Jefferson

The 10th Amendment to the Unites States Constitution reads "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."

The Constitution does not give Congress the authorization to override state laws. It is now being reported that 19 states have either, or are in the process, of passing legislation which will prohibit their citizens to have to purchase federal health care insurance. This debate is sure to continue in the months ahead.

Here is an interesting story from 2004 on rebelling against the government.
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When To Revolt
by Wesley Allen Riddle

The cords that bind the Union together are weaker than they have been in more than a century. Many states are entering into political revolt against federal encroachment. But this situation is no departure from American tradition. Revolting against consolidated government has been a key to keeping the government in check.

The Founders themselves provided criteria by which to judge the proper occasion for action--both in terms of empirical precedent during the American Revolution, as well as in terms of written, theoretical discourse.

In 1785, for instance,.....http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1067181/posts

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Thoughts on the First Amendment

The First Amendment is part of the Bill of Rights which the Constitutional Convention added to the Constitution in 1787 at the demand of several of the delegates who wanted to ensure limiting the power of the government with specific definitions of civil liberties. The Bill of Rights was adopted by the states in December 1791.

First Amendment:
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.

“It appears that some school officials, teachers, and parents have assumed that religious expression of any type is either inappropriate or forbidden altogether in public schools; however, nothing in the First Amendment converts our public schools into religion-free zones.”
-Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States of America

"The Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have [to] bare the secrets of government and inform the people."
-Hugo Black

"Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost."
-Thomas Jefferson


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Constitution Times: Quotes from the Beginnings of Our Nation

"'Tis done. We have become a nation."
Benjamin Rush, on the ratification of the Constitution, letter to Boudinot, July 9, 1788

"Besides, to lay and collect internal taxes in this extensive country must require a great number of congressional ordinances, immediately operation upon the body of the people; these must continually interfere with the state laws and thereby produce disorder and general dissatisfaction till the one system of laws or the other, operating upon the same subjects, shall be abolished."
Federal Farmer, Antifederalist Letter, October 10, 1787

"If men of wisdom and knowledge, of moderation and temperance, of patience, fortitude and perseverance, of sobriety and true republican simplicity of manners, of zeal for the honour of the Supreme Being and the welfare of the commonwealth; if men possessed of these other excellent qualities are chosen to fill the seats of government, we may expect that our affairs will rest on a solid and permanent foundation."
Samuel Adams, letter to Elbridge Gerry, November 27, 1780

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1789 Constitution Amendments Consideration

We, as Americans, should know our Bill of Rights which are the first ten amendments which passed in 1789. Did you know that our current Bill of Rights were actually the 3rd-12th amendments proposed? Do you know why we have our Bill of Rights?

Many of the original 13 states were not overly thrilled with the new Constitution when it was signed in September 1787. Some states' delegates only agreed to sign the Constitution when promises were made to further define some of the powers of the government.

In March 1789 at the Congress meeting in New York City, it was noted several states believed "in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added ..." to the Constitution.

Twelve amendments were proposed. The first two were not passed. The first was on the number of representatives allowed for each state and the second was on compensation for Congress.

The remaining proposed articles were adopted and ratified, thus becoming the first ten amendments or the Bill of Rights as we know them today.

Reference: The Library of Congress, Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789

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The Country of "No"

"History is clear that the first ten amendments to the Constitution were adopted to secure certain common law rights of the people, against invasion by the Federal Government."
-- Bell v. Hood, 71 F. Supp., 813, 816 (1947)

"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."
-- Daniel Webster

"No one can read our Constitution without concluding that the people who wrote it wanted their government severely limited; the words 'no' and 'not' employed in restraint of government power occur 24 times in the first seven articles of the Constitution and 22 more times in the Bill of Rights."
-- Edmund A. Opitz

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Pledge to Support of the Constitution

Now seems like a great time for all Americans to reaffirm their pledge to the support of the United States Constitution. Lincoln had a statement on the patriots which was in a speech he gave in 1838 that seems to focus on what our forefathers were happy to do. Are we?

As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor; --let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own, and his children's liberty.
-Abraham Lincoln, 1838


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Quotes on Freedom of Speech

Freedom of speech? Are there those who would seek to deprive us of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution? Here are some quotes on the subject...

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”
—Harry Truman

"Once the government can demand of a publisher the names of the purchasers of his publications, the free press as we know it disappears. Then the spectre of a government agent will look over the shoulder of everyone who reads. The purchase of a book or pamphlet today may result in a subpoena tomorrow. Fear of criticism goes with every person into the bookstall. The subtle, imponderable pressures of the orthodox lay hold. Some will fear to read what is unpopular, what the powers-that-be dislike. When the light of publicity may reach any student, any teacher, inquiry will be discouraged. The books and pamphlets that are critical of the administration, that preach an unpopular policy in domestic or foreign affairs, that are in disrepute in the orthodox school of thought will be suspect and subject to investigation. The press and its readers will pay a heavy price in harassment. But that will be minor in comparison with the menace of [345 U.S. 41, 58] the shadow which government will cast over literature that does not follow the dominant party line. If the lady from Toledo can be required to disclose what she read yesterday and what she will read tomorrow, fear will take the place of freedom in the libraries, book stores, and homes of the land. Through the harassment of hearings, investigations, reports, and subpoenas government will hold a club over speech and over the press."
—U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas,
UNITED STATES v. RUMELY, 345 U.S. 41 (1953)

“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”
—Benjamin Franklin

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Founding Father Quotes on the Second Amendment

The second amendment has been receiving quite a bit of press lately. Are the citizens in the United States going to be allowed to continue to bear arms or will more bans be put into practice? We thought you'd enjoy reading some quotes from our founding fathers on this subject.

"Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms."
– James Madison

"The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed."
--Thomas Jefferson

"We should not forget that the spark which ignited the American Revolution was caused by the British attempt to confiscate the firearms of the colonists."
- Patrick Henry

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Sign the Constitution and then What?

After four long months of debate, the Constitutional Convention finally agreed on wording for the United States Constitution. It was on September 17, ,1787, that 39 delegates at the convention signed the Constitution.

The delegates were then able to carry the Constitution back to the individual states so the process of ratification could begin. While Benjamin Franklin urged all states to ratify, the convention did agree that only 9 of the 13 states had to do so.

It took the 13 states two and one half years to agree to the new Constitution. Many states refused to agree to the Constitution until certain amendments detailing the rights of individuals were added. These amendments are known as the Bill of Rights.

The new government for the United States was put into practice on March 4, 1789. At that time, only 11 states had ratified the Constitution. The 13th state did not ratify the Constitution until May 1790.

Staff Report
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William Taft Quote: Constitution and Growth of Civilization

"Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one which, united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth of civilization than any other institution established by the human race."
-William Taft (1857 - 1930)

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Constitution as an Instrument

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.”
-Patrick Henry


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