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).
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.
Donald N. Anderson
Reading 2011
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.
(Run cursor slowly across titles to
see descriptions)
Our Constitution and Amendments (text copies) |
Ratified | ||||
The United States Constitution | 1789 | ||||
Amendments to the Constitution | 1791-1994 | ||||
If you want a very convenient shirt pocket copy of the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and the 27 Amendments |