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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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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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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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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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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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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Thomas Jefferson on Unlimited Powers

"The greatest [calamity] which could befall [us would be] submission to a government of unlimited powers."
-- Thomas Jefferson, 1825

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John Adams: Quotes on the Constitution Regarding Religion and Morality

"Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure than they have it now, they may change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty."
-John Adams
June 1776

"We have no government armed in power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other."
-John Adams
October 1798


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Alexander Hamilton Quote on Liberty and Strength of Government

"Good constitutions are formed upon a comparison of the liberty of the individual with the strength of government: If the tone of either be too high, the other will be weakened too much. It is the happiest possible mode of conciliating these objects, to institute one branch peculiarly endowed with sensibility, another with knowledge and firmness. Through the opposition and mutual control of these bodies, the government will reach, in its regular operations, the perfect balance between liberty and power."
--Alexander Hamilton
June 25, 1788


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Today is Constitution Day. Celebrate it

Today is Constitution Day. Celebrate it
by: Clyde posted: 2009-09-17 11:45:00


On Monday, September 17, 1787, two-hundred twenty-two years ago today, our second Constitution was signed and sent to the states for ratification. Everything went well for a few states, then the lack of a Bill of Rights, something present in all the states' constitutions, stopped the ratification process in its tracks.

The Constitution, as then-presented, was worded only to say what the federal government could do; it did not address.....http://patriotroom.com/article/today-is-constitution-day-celebrate-it

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May 14, 1787 The Beginning the Convention to Overthrow the Articles of Confederation

May 14, 1787 and the rest, as they say, is history...

Constitutional Convention delegates begin to assemble

On this day in 1787, delegates to the Constitutional Convention begin to assemble in Philadelphia to confront a daunting task: the peaceful overthrow of the new American government as defined by the Article of Confederation. Although the convention was originally supposed to begin on May 14, James Madison reported that “a small number only had assembled.” Meetings had to be pushed back until May 25, when a sufficient quorum of the participating states--Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia—had arrived.......http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=622

Constitution and Restraint of Government

"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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Free Illustrated Book on U.S. Constitution Now Available Online

(BUSINESS WIRE)--A free online book describing The U.S. Constitution, the men who wrote it and the new freedom it created to a burgeoning nation is now available through The Point 94.1, a Classic Rock radio station in Little Rock, Arkansas, at: www.point941.com.

“With the upcoming presidential election and recently the ‘Constitution Day’ in September, the interest in the political process is strong,” said station owner and general manager, Philip Jonsson. “Adventure Tales of the Constitution of the United States uses illustration, humor and drama to convey what has been confusing to many of us in prior elections.”

The 56-page book was written by Jody Potts, Ph.D., a historian at Southern Methodist University and a specialist in left and right brain learning techniques. In full color and vividly illustrated, this innovative textbook features a text/illustration format proven to help students learn faster, remember longer, and score higher on tests.

Adventure Tales of the Constitution of the United States (Signal Media Publishers) covers the Confederation Period, The Constitutional Convention, key documents such as the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, Anti-Federalist and Federalist writings, as well as landmark Supreme Court decisions.

Click here to view the book.

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Constitution Moment

The Constitution is the cornerstone of our government. It ensures that no one entity of government can be over powerful.

The Constitution provides for three separate arms of our government: the Judicial, the Executive and the Legislative.

Read the Constitution. Learn more about the government the framers developed 221 years ago.



This Constitution Moment was provided by the James Waldrop Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, of Fayetteville, GA.

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