Today is Constitution Day, the day we celebrate how 231 years ago our Founders adopted the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787. That we’ve lasted so long is a phenomenal success within human history–since 1789 the average lifespan of national constitutions is just 19 years, according to scholars at the University of Chicago. Our Constitutional delegates were far from perfect, and the document they signed was incomplete, flawed and exclusionary. But at its core, the document was an amazing expression of human dignity, free expression and property rights. And rather than creating a static, rigid document laying out the laws of our land, the Founders created an orderly process of amending the Constitution that eventually expanded freedom and equality for everyone all women and people of color. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., understood the power of what these visionaries did, and he expanded that vision in his “I Have A Dream,” speech. “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir,” King said. “This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be…
See original post: OP-ED: Happy Constitution Day! How Will You Celebrate Your Freedom?