Happy Constitution Day!

By Rich Pezzullo | The Save Jersey Blog

Constitution Day was created by Congress in 2004 to require that all schools which receive federal funding offer some type of “educational program” on the U.S. Constitution.

Sept. 17 was chosen because it was the last session of the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, during which the final version of the newly written U.S. Constitution was signed by 39 delegates.

The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were held in strict secrecy. Consequently, anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall when the proceedings ended in order to learn what had been produced behind closed doors. The answer was provided immediately. A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.” This exchange was recorded by Constitution signer James McHenry in a diary entry that was later reproduced in the 1906 American Historical Review.

The ConstitutionJames Madison, who is rightly known as the “Father of the Constitution,” wrote in The Federalist, No. 10: “… democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they are violent in their deaths.”

George Washington, who had presided over the Constitutional Convention and later accepted the honor of being chosen as the first President of the United States under its new Constitution, indicated during his inaugural address on April 30, 1789, that he would dedicate himself to “the preservation … of the republican model of government.”

In light of the Founders’ view on the subject of republics and democracies, it is not surprising that the Constitution does not contain the word “democracy,” but does mandate: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government.”

Use Constitution Day to learn the difference between a democracy and a republic, and look into why the founders, with deep knowledge of civilizations through history and around the world chose the republican model rather than the democrat model.

John Adams explains simply. “Democracy never lasts long,” he noted. “It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself.” He insisted, “There was never a democracy that ‘did not commit suicide.'”

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Rich Pezzullo
About Rich Pezzullo 18 Articles
RICH PEZZULLO hails from Monmouth County; he is a technology specialist, retired major with the U.S. Army reserve, and a former candidate for Congress in New Jersey's 6th District.