New Britain herald., 1923-09-20
OUTLINES GROWTH
 Of CONSTITUTION
Attorney Gafnty Talks to Lincoln
 St. School Association

An outline ef the United s,a.s'
 constitutiea. its conception and ll'
 growth was given by Attorney nehsla
 Garney before the members et hf
 Lincoln street school Parents and
 Teachers association last evening Al
 torney Gaffnsy told Of the censli.'l'
 tien,sf progress toward the amended
 document of the present day and
 showed how the original snfane dl'
 rectly from the people, A summary
 of his talk follassi
 ssThis is Constitution Week We
 have had and survived Cleanup Week,
 Safety First Week, Prevention ot Cruelty to Animals Week. Old Clothes
 Week, and a dozen other weeks. We ought to be thankful that we have had 10 celebrate no other designated weeks But al the same time we ought to be glad that there Is one week In the ha of the year during which we can devote some attention and thought to the United States Constitution.
 "ons hundred and thirty-six years ago last Monday the Constitution Of the United states was adopted, Dur. ing that period the Constitution has teen put through the test of praeti, cability and time. The states which adopted 1t were small in number weak from the effects of the Reyoln- tionary War and impoverished finan- cially. Since Its adoption a great na. ton has arisen and fiourished under ~A. lat nf that Isaa. siitution.
 "The Constitution emanated direct ly from the people. The preamble reads. We the people Of the United States. Tn order to form a more per feet union. establish justice, insure domestic tranquility. provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. do ordain and establish this Consti- tuition for the United States of Ameri- ca So then. it was the people who founded this government and gave to 1t a Constitution.
 Tn the Constitution the people di- vided the government into three parts. the legislative. the executive and the judicial. They provided for state gov ernment as well as national govern ment. It can be readily seen that our government under the Constitution is a government of checks and balances. The legislative department checks and balances with the executive; the judi cia1 with both. The two houses of the legislative department balance each | other and the national and state | governments check and balance each | other. Each in its own place is su- preme. That remarkable organiza- tion of government has been largely responsible for the fact that though the fundamental provisions of our government were fixed 136 years ago in brief form, and since that time numberless scientific inventions, new theories of government, new ideas, moral, political and otherwise, have Teen introduced, only 19 amendments to the Constitution have been neces- sitated.
 Advance of Government
 "A brief recapitulation of those will serve to illustrate how the government has advanced with the progress of society After the Constitution was adopted, it was generally felt that the national gov ernment was too powerful This feel ing resulted within a few years after the ratification of the Constitution in the passage of the first 10 amend nents. Thees amendments put var ous restrictions on the national gov srnment The tenth amendment ex- pressly reserves to the state or the people powers not delegated. There were no amendments passed from 1894 to 1884. The Civil War was ought. That brought about the 18th which forbade slavery md also the 14th, the principal pro-