The United States Constitution

The United States Constitution was written in 1787 and placed into effect upon adoption by 9 states in 1789. The last of the 13 original states, Rhode Island ratified it and joined the United States in May of 1790. The first 10 amendments were ratified and became effective 15 December 1791. The eleventh amendment was adopted in 1795 and the next 16 spread out over the next 197 years until the 27th was ratified on 07 May 1992 (it had been proposed as part of the original bill of rights on 25 September 1789).

Donald N. Anderson Reading 2011

The owner of this website may be most closely described as a constitutional conservative, who has become convinced that the constitution should be primarily interpreted according to the plain English text with the words defined as they were by people at the time of its origin. When a provision is still unclear one should rely on original intent of the authors and the dominant customs at that time for clarification. When the constitution fails to speak on an issue and construction is necessary, I would prefer that deference be given to the liberty of the individual rather than legislative enactments or intent.

I write in Part 2 - Proposing Amendments and Part 1: Reviving Article 5 below about the 4 methods of amending the Constitution. I am convinced that we have employed the informal methods far too often and badly need to return to employing the formal methods. These methods allow full discussion by the population and require consent from 3/4 of the states for adoption. Therefore the resulting amendments are much less likely to be misconstrued or to be changed according to ill-considered temporary whims.

I believe the formal amendment process has been used less frequently than it should. Interpretation to change the meaning of a constitutional provision or construction from legislative debate is no substitute for engaging our whole nation in extended debate over important constitutional understandings. The briefly stated articles, paragraphs and clauses of the Constitution have weathered the last 220 years very well, but it has become evident that some of their provisions did not work out as intended. I will revisit some of these in the columns I have written below.  I will also add some suggestions that might alleviate past errors in interpretation and emphasize the Constitution's protection of individual liberty.

We have been in an era often intellectually dominated by so-called "Progressives" (moderate socialists) for the last 110 years. That era may be coming to an end. If it is, a general review of what worked and what didn't work, with regard to our Constitution, may be discussed without directive ideological blinders limiting the discussion.

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