Evening star., 1932-05-22

as never before had been duplicated In
the history Of the New World. The
Committees of Correspondence were or
ganiZed in ITO The first Continental
Congress was held five years later. In
the immortal year of the signing OF the
Declaration Of Independence occurred
the second Continental Congress. At
the close Of the Revolutionary War in
1871, trial government under the Ar
ticleS Of Confederation began. All these
events were but layers OF bricks in the
building of the Constitution culmi-
mating in the three constitutional con-
ventions beginning in 1785 and ending
at Philadelphia in 1887, when the docu
ment that was to make a nation was
conceived.
"A glorious foundation for a glorious
structure was built! The people, jubi-
liant, exclaimed, The like of this has
never been seen before!' They we're not
altogether wrong, but they were not
correct. While 1t was true that foun-
dation as fitting for an institution like
the United States of America had never
been seen before, that no other base of
q peoples government before this had
ever held up structure, as our Con-
stitution did, of a federal government
that was without precedent in the his
tory Of the world, still the bricks that
made Of this foundation, the mortar
that held it together, were precious ma
terlals garnered from all over the world;
from every age! They were not made
for the first time that memorable year.
Each brick in the foundation was taken
from other foundations of institutions
guaranteeing liberty and happiness to
those people
What were the rights that our Con-
stitution sought to safeguard? What
were the weapons that 1t provided to in
sure our people against despots, tyrants
and autocrats? What were the rights
that our Constitution declared to be
ipalienable, and stripped Legislatures
and courts for generations afterward of
the power to repeal or modify? Were
they merely the problems of a people
that lived in the twilight of the eight
eenth century or were these problems
that have always existed from the dawn
Of history? The provisions in our Con-
stitution that guarantee to every citizen
a right to trial by jury, the right to
freedom Of assembly, for petition of
grievances, for the right of religious
liberty. of freedom Of expression. are
guarantees that are found in other
documents long before the constitutional
convention was conceived. The pro-
visions in our Constitution that divide
nIr- Government into the executive, the
Legislative and the judicial branches,
each acting as a check upon the other,
which guarantees against the abuses of
power in any one department of the
Government, we're not the Inventions or
creations Of the trainers of our Con-
stitution, but go clear back to the
Magma Charta in 1915, pack to the
codes of European states, to the ancient
days of Rome. and still farther removed
to the first organized governments.
"The rights that our Constitution de-
clared to be inalienable were rights for
which Copernicus and Bruno were
burned at the stake; rights for which
the champions of liberty of every age
fought and sought and vindicate. And
hence the trainers of our Constitution
said that no Legislature or court of Law
or police officer should ever take the
right of religious liberty, or freedom OF
speech. trial by jury, away from our
citizens.
Never before had any people wrought
so great a political revolution without
uioodshed. From loosely bound con-
I-deracy that lacked the power of gov
srnng, the people, deliberately, thought
fully without drawing sword, with no
pressure from without, banded together
and founded a nation and based It ON
a firm and abiding foundation. That /
drawn up in 1887 by SIS !
delegates. signed by 80, has been in |
force for almost century and half.
and as we look back on that period OF
time we see that that document has !
not diminished in power. has not grown |
1ut of date. Dynasties, kingdoms, en-
,ires have fallen and crumbled to pieces.
The United States Is growing ever more /
powerful. rising toward the skies, secure /
in the foundation that is the life of our |
Nation-the Constitution"