Everyone Should Read Founding Documents

By: | TriCities.com
Published: September 19, 2009

Recently, I reread both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Discussions being generated by the tea parties and town hall meetings on health care are similar to the protests of the people of the colonies against Great Britain.
I also believe there is an attack on our constitutional government and on our religious freedom.
In the Declaration of Independence the writers made reference to “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” They also stated that people are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” which are defined as “rights that cannot be given away or taken away.” In the last paragraph, the writers appealed to “the Supreme Judge of the World (not to the Supreme Court) for the rectitude of [their] intentions” and in the last sentence they state “a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence.”
As to the Constitution of the United States, Article I deals with the legislative branch; Article II, with the executive branch; and Article III, with the judicial branch. The first 10 amendments to the Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights. Several pertinent ones are:
Article I : “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the existence thereof.”
Article II: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
Article IX: “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
Article X: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Note that Article X does not say that these powers are delegated to the Supreme Court.
In conclusion, I would suggest that readers, especially young people, study both of these documents and analyze the meaning relative to the present political turmoil in our country. In doing so they might wonder if the legislative, executive and judicial branches are not acting contrary to the Constitution of the United States.

Sam Y. Perkins
Bristol, Va.

Everyone Should Read Founding Documents

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