Play 1010 Jefferson Paper

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Endless constitutional rewrites would also in effect erase our history and divorce us from the country’s original base. The constitution was designed to adapt with the evolution of the U.S. and its citizens by the augmentation of new laws rather than the replacement of original ones. Making amendments that leave the preliminary laws intact charts the the government’s history and evolution. Furthermore, an awareness of this progression theoretically prevents certain mistakes from being made again. This awareness also reinforces current positions, while reminding us of our humble beginnings. It anchors us to our humble beginnings. If the document was rewritten that often, we’d forget that all so important place from where it started. The constitution incorporates flexibility, but the citizens should know from where that was derived and how far it has come. This isn’t done by generational revisionism.

It is clear only from hindsight that the Founders crafted one of the most politically-genius and durable documents in human legal history— a masterpiece only possibly surpassed by the Declaration of Independence. Their creation dispelled monarchy and subjugation in a gradual chain-reaction throughout the world. It secured the blessing of liberty and simultaneously prevented the abuse of power through it’s brilliant division of branches and system of checks and balances. It planted the seeds for a country that grew from a rebellious collection of colonies to the world’s greatest economy and hegemonic super-power, that’s been a beacon for freedom, opportunity, and prosperity for humanity, that led the world in achieving ungodly technological, medical, artistic, intellectual, and scientific feats, and that put a man on the moon. We know now how brilliant and revolutionary the Constitution was, and can easily say that we’re thankful it’s never been tampered with.

Works Cited

1. Jefferson, “On Re-Writing the Constitution Each Generation” Publius, Federalist 49

2. Textbook Chapter 3: “Federalism and American Political Development”

3. Martha Derthick, “The Enduring Features of American Federalism”

4. Herbert Storing, What the Anti-Federalists Were For (selection)

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