The United States Constitution Made Easy...To Understand

INTRODUCTION

As an adjunct Professor, I taught American History at several colleges throughout the 1990’s and up to the end of 2010. The students in my classes were, for the most part, totally oblivious of many of the fundamental aspects of America, her founding and the history of her making.

Simple questions like, who said: Give me liberty or give me death. went unanswered. I thought this was appalling and it upset me a great deal. Virtually all of my students could not recite the first few words of the Preamble to the Constitution, or tell me out of which document do we find the words, ….we hold these truths to be self evident.

This American ignorance started about the time I graduated from high school in 1965. The American educational system had changed dramatically by the late 60’s. Some of the older teachers continued to cling to the past system and continued to teach Americanism, American exceptionalism, patriotism, the Constitution, Bill of Rights and our Judeo/Christian heritage, but they have long since passed.

In some schools, the old school way of teaching about this great nation and its founding hung around for a few years. However, it is safe to say that the new approach of educating our children dramatically made an about face and our children were not only NOT taught about America and its heritage to any great degree, but rather, emphasis was placed more on Socialism and the Collective State.

In 2008, I began exploring the idea of teaching free classes at our local Library on the basics of our Constitution and some history of the founding of America. I received permission from the Library, sent out e-mails and personal invitations, and advertised in the local newspaper. Classes were eight weeks long and very well attended. I taught the classes twice a year for two years. In my small community in the northern mountains of my state, all who were interested and could, did attend and people from as far away as the south end of a neighboring county also attended.

I found that although the classes were well attended, I was only reaching about 40-50 people in a year (several people attended the classes more than once). The attendees were generally people of my generation, perhaps 10-20 years younger in some instances, but only a small number of youth. However, I realized I must reach the youth because they will be our leaders in the future and we desperately need good leaders because America is in dire straits.

My wife writes and publishes cookbooks. The cook book line is called the Made Easy series as in Wheat Cookin’ Made Easy or Garden Veggie Cookin’ Made Easy and Emergency Preparedness Made Easy and several others, all Made Easy. I thought that perhaps I would write a book on America’s founding and the Constitution and call it: The United States Constitution Made Easy…...to understand. The book would spell out the basics of America’s founding, her founders, the Constitution, and what it means in simple, easily understood words and phrases.

So, I have written this book in this manner, to most importantly, appeal to and reach more people who don’t know about their legal heritage and the wonderful experiment, as many political and historical experts have called the founding of the United States of America.

The Constitution is a mere 4,543 words long, including the signatures, and is easily understood while using no big words. Anyone having even a high school education can read and understand it. It does not take a scholar, a Supreme Court, an attorney or Congress to tell us its meaning.

Oh yes, some of the words of the Constitution have had the original intent changed by conspiring men in recent times, but one only needs to understand the basis for why a particular word was used in the first place.

The Declaration of Independence spells out perfectly why our Founding Fathers found it necessary to spend from May 25, to September 17, 1787 drafting the Constitution. Our Founding Fathers had suffered abuses from England and wanted to ensure and safeguard the Liberties of their posterity by drafting a Contract between the federal government and the States to vouchsafe those liberties.

Having said that, here is a book, which is simple, easily read and understood, complete with readable copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in the Appendices. By reading it, you will gain a better understanding of your American heritage and the courage and wisdom of our Founders, than any student exiting our educational system today.

The United States Constitution

Made Easy...to Understand

Chapter I

Why the Constitution Matters in the First Place

Many are saying the Constitution of the United States is outdated or that it was written for an agrarian society. George Washington said, Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Like fire, government must be controlled.

When governments grow in power, the People’s Liberties are diminished. We have learned by sad experience throughout history that it is the nature and disposition of virtually all men that as soon as they get a little authority they immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion over their fellow men. The Constitution provides the laws, restrictions, regulations, and rights, which are the chains that hold down and control government.

However, if and when the representatives of the People forget or disregard their oaths to uphold the Constitution, then it has little or no effect and the government gets out of control.

We are now finding this to be sadly true. One only needs to see the massive debt and out of control spending that is going on today. There are thousands upon thousands of programs that the federal government is funding, the vast majority of which have no constitutional authorization.

Our system of government is not a Democracy. The Founding Fathers said Democracy was a perennial fraud, as short in its life, as it is violent in its end. Simply stated, Democracy is four wolves and two sheep sitting down to vote on what to have for dinner.

Democracy has its origin in Greek. Demos means people and Krátos means force or power; direct rule by the people. Most would say, well isn’t that what we have, rule by the people? In a sense this is true. Remember the Gettysburg address by President Lincoln where he said, ….of the people, by the people and for the people…..

Think of it this way. Say a neighborhood of 100 people decide they don’t like one of their neighbors so they call a town meeting to decide what to do to solve this problem. They gather together and they vote 51 to 49 to hang the neighbor they don’t like. They then string the poor neighbor up and voila, the problem is solved. Is this people rule? Yes, but were some rights violated here. Certainly! Even the weakest and poorest among us need to have their rights protected…they need representation.

We have a Constitutional Republic with democratic style institutions where majority rules, but all must obey the Constitution.

Governments are instituted among men to protect their rights, property and rights to property. Without property rights, we have no rights at all. This will be discussed later in another chapter.

Republic has its origins in Latin. Rome had somewhat of a Republican form of government until some sought more power unto themselves and the Republic of Rome fell and became a Dictatorship; Caesar held all power. Re, or res means thing, matter, affair, object etc. and publicus is Latin meaning belonging to the people.

It is truly amazing that the United States of America is referred to as a Democracy; whereas Russia, was the USSR, or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; China is called the People’s Republic of China; and likewise North Korea is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. These three countries are neither Republics nor Democracies. They are Dictatorships, pure and simple. Word play and word-smithing is blatantly obvious here. Ponder on this a moment. Do the people of any of these countries have a say in their government? Are they, the people, represented? The simple answer is NO! So why are they called Republics? Deception, perhaps? It is simply word play and word-smithing again.

The States, commonly referred to as the original 13 Colonies, gathered together in Philadelphia in 1787 to draft a contract, or Constitution. They had tried working with the Articles of Confederation (by which they were governed prior), but found it unworkable and too weak.

In fact, it was because the Articles of Confederation were so weak that the War for Independence was almost lost. This was due to the inability of the central government to force the colonies to send supplies and provisions to Washington to prosecute the war.

God created man, man created the states, the states created the federal government. Because the law of nature dictates that the creature is always subject to its creator; therefore, the states are superior to the federal government.

The Constitution spells out what powers the states grant to each branch of government. And the 10th Amendment to the Constitution states that whatever power is not enumerated in Article I, Section 8, for the federal government is reserved to the States and the People. The powers given to the federal government are very limited; the powers reserved to the States and the People are numerous and undefined except to the extent that each state has its own Constitution with enumerated powers. One of the greatest fears that the state delegates had during the Constitutional Convention was that too much power would be given to the federal government. The genius of our Constitution is found in the fact that the United States did not simply replace one despotic government for another, as has been done time after time in the world’s history. The history of this great nation is based on the workings of a Constitution that created a system, which is anathema to despotism and tyranny. Man creates government by consciously surrendering a portion of their God-given rights to government with the charge to protect the bulk of their rights.

As James Madison stated, Individuals entering into society must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest. The danger, as is all too obvious today, is that government might go beyond the voluntarily granted powers and begin to exercise powers not granted, which is tyranny. Again, as James Madison so eloquently put it, If men were angels, no government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

To make certain that the government our Founding Fathers created would control itself, they devised a system of checks and balances and mechanisms built in, to protect the citizens of this great nation in the exercising of their God-given rights. Let’s number them:

1) The Constitution is the supreme law of the land, yet it grants only certain powers to the government and powers beyond those enumerated, are reserved to the states and We the People.

2) The states serve as a check on the federal government and vice versa, and We the People serve as a check on them both.

3) The government has three separate branches: the executive; the judicial; and the legislative; each branch has its own separate powers and authority.

4) The Constitution creates a Republic and guarantees each state admitted to the Union that same governmental system. A system where the people elect others to represent them, while rejecting the creation of a democracy, where majority rule can allow the rights of the minority to be repressed. Keep in mind the story of the sheep and the wolves voting on what to eat for dinner.

5) Two of the branches of government are held accountable by those who elect them. The third branch, the Judiciary, is independent and hopefully insulated from mob rule and changes in the popular mood of the day.

6) The Constitution contains the means to be amended (Article V) to adapt and adjust to changes in the nation and world. This will be discussed later.

The Constitutional Convention saw much debate; much effort was made to bind down the federal government to certain enumerated powers. Two major provisions in the Constitution were made to restrict the powers of the federal government.

• First, separation of powers among three separate and distinct branches of government, and second, the powers were specifically enumerated and spelled out in no uncertain terms.

Each State’s legislature elected or appointed a Senator to represent them in the Congress, thereby protecting the states’ interests. The People had their representation in Washington and the States had theirs. The all-important Tenth Amendment was written to further strengthen the limited powers provisions of Article I of the Constitution.

As said before, a creator cannot endow powers upon its own creature that it itself does not possess, yet the federal government exercises power over the States and the People that it does not rightfully possess nor was given by the States when the Constitution was ratified by those States.

However, when any one of the branches of government fails in its duties, the other branches of power will always abuse their powers by overstepping their bounds. We saw this happen Sunday, March 21, 2010. The Legislative Branch of our government overstepped its powers and completely disregarded the limited powers in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution by passing The Affordable Health Care for America Act, or as it is called, ObamaCare. While this took place, the other two branches looked the other way. Even though a large majority of the American People was against it, Congress ignored them and passed the law anyway. The People spoke however, and many of those who voted in favor of this unconstitutional law, lost their seats in Congress in the next election.

There is a sad state of affairs now very evident in the governance of this great nation of ours. Currently the federal government is on top, then the States, and under the States, we have the People. On the very bottom we have, God, the Supreme Creator from whence all power comes. There are those who would completely eliminate God and remove even the mention of His name in any government house. Once we shut God out, He will abandon this nation and we will have nothing left, short of Totalitarianism.

Chapter II

The Founding Fathers,

A Resolute Generation of Americans

Our Founding Fathers made us their benefactors. We enjoy an abundance and freedom never before enjoyed in the history of the world.

"They created the first free people to survive as a nation in modern times. They wrote a new kind of Constitution, which is now the oldest in existence. They built a new kind of commonwealth designed as a model for the whole human race. They believed it was thoroughly possible to create a new kind of civilization, providing freedom, equality, and justice for all. They envisioned a vast commonwealth of freedom which would encompass all North America, and accommodate, as John Adams said, two to three hundred million freemen. They created an expansive new cultural climate that gave eagle’s wings to the human spirit. They encouraged exploration and technology to reveal the secrets of the universe. They built a free-enterprise culture to promote millions of jobs and unprecedented prosperity. They invented, for the world as well as themselves, a whole new formula for happiness and success. They offered the human race a potential future filled with the ultimate hope of the human heart—a world of universal freedom, universal prosperity, and universal peace."

"No happiness without liberty, no liberty without self- government, no self-government without constitutionalism, no constitutionalism without morality—and none of these great goods without stability and order." (Clinton Rossiter)¹

The Prime Minister of England, William E. Gladstone (1881), later said, speaking of the Constitution of the United States: It is the greatest piece of work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purposes of man.²

The first Prime Minister of Canada, Sir John A. Macdonald, also stated: I think and believe that [The United States Constitution] is one of the most perfect organizations that ever governed a free people.³

Why, you might ask? Because God is the Author, not man! The Founders of the United States of America were good, honest and wise men, raised up by God to establish this great Nation under God. They were God-fearing men; men who, after studying governments and philosophies of the world, were well aware of the natural man and the tendencies to exercise unrighteous dominion over their fellow men. They wrote the finest piece of work ever emanating from the tip of a pen. They established the greatest Nation on God’s green earth, to secure the rights of its citizens, and in fact, for the protection of all flesh. Our system of government, a Constitutional Republic, would not function efficiently, and perhaps might not even survive, if the PEOPLE do not maintain a constant vigilance and thereby develop what Jefferson called an intelligent and informed electorate. One of the most amazing aspects of the American story is that, while the Founding Fathers came from very different and divergent backgrounds, their fundamental beliefs were nearly identical. During the Constitutional Convention, they argued bitterly over the best way to implement those plans, but they rarely argued over what the final objective was. Even though many came from different churches and had doctrinal differences, they were careful students of the Bible, especially the Old Testament. Even though some did not belong to any Christian denomination, the teachings of Jesus Christ held universal respect and admiration. They were also students of Greek, Roman, Anglo Saxon, European and English history. Remarkably, they were well read and were very knowledgeable about the necessary and essential elements of sound government and of building a free nation.

Though only 36 state delegates officially signed the United States Constitution, 561 patriots participated in the various state conventions, debates, and discussions held before the Constitution was ratified. Some of these additional comments are also cited in this book.

We are now over two centuries away from the original launching of the Ship of State, the United States of America. Our ship is way out to sea and is being tossed to and fro by the winds of doctrine by those bent on its sinking. We are definitely treading on stormy seas. This could all have been avoided had our leaders and We the People stayed within the moorings of safety the Constitutional Principles gave us.

Sadly, we have strayed because those founding principles are being ignored. We disregard those principles and the honest teaching of our history as necessary elements of our education in the public schools. This neglect has occurred since about the mid-60’s when this writer graduated from high school in Alaska.

Modern revisionists of our History have diligently and with indefatigable effort, cast the Founding Fathers as godless, immoral men. Our modern day school texts on American History claim they were fostering a self-aggrandizing agenda for this newly created nation. Either these revisionists wish to cast such a poor light on our Founders to excuse and condone the immoral and dishonest behavior of our current politicians and leaders, or they are attempting to undermine the very foundation and principles upon which America was founded.

These attitudes will destroy her.

By undermining and castigating our Founders, these revisionists are promoting the very destruction of the principles for which the Founders stood; thus accelerating this nation into a godless, globalist, collectivist, and socialist nanny state.

There are literally volumes of information, contemporaneous with the Founders’ era that proves revisionists’ histories as total falsehoods. Our Founders recognized God’s hand in the making of America. They were not only quick to recognize His hand, but also gave thanks for it. They rejected secularism. They considered it repulsive, and thought the godless philosophies of their day foreign to their beliefs, and rejected them en masse. Their religious and moral codes, time tested and proven, were well known to our People just a few generations ago. This knowledge has been all but totally subverted by conspiring individuals with dishonorable or self- aggrandizement intentions. In