- The Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land, and it was intended to be understood exactly as it is written. All legal gymnastics which twist and pervert its words are wholly repugnant to our Republic and our Freedom. The Constitution was deliberately crafted in a manner which would be agreeable to the literacy and education of the common American. Lawyers and scholars who say otherwise are gatekeeping.
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- The most common misconception is that The Constitution gives an individual their Rights. This is not true. The Constitution recognizes and protects the Rights which an individual has inherited from Nature, and Nature's God. These are the Right to Life, Liberty, and Property, and all that they entail, including the personal and lethal defense of those Rights. The main lesson here is that your Natural Rights are NOT subject to the whims or devices of another man, or body of men.
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- The Constitution is not about what the government can do, as much as it is about what the government cannot do. The USA is a bottom-up government, which means that power originates with We, The People, and only from We, The People, with our informed consent, can that power be delegated forward for the sole purpose of protecting our Natural Rights, and never for the purpose of violating our neighbor's Natural Rights.
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- The 3/5s Clause/Compromise—"Three fifths of all other Persons"— does NOT mean that a slave was considered 3/5s of a human being—it literally meant that every 3 out of 5 "other Persons" (indentured servants and slaves) would be counted for the purpose of taxing and representation in Congress.
Even though it would ultimately fail, this rule was not intended to be in the interest of the slave-holding states who wanted to count their slaves on a 1 to 1 basis; in contrast, the states in opposition wanted the slaves to count for ZERO because even with the compromise, the slave-holding states still had a slave-population immense enough to vastly inflate their representation in Congress. This was one of the many trade-offs enacted in order to eventually "form a more perfect Union."
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- The First Amendment is in the same spirit as the Second Amendment—"SHALL MAKE NO LAWS = SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED."
The purpose of the First Amendment is to DENY the Government all authority to limit, restrict, regulate, or interfere with public religious practice, or to establish a State Sanctioned Church (Denomination), such as the Anglican Church or the Catholic Church which are both TOP-DOWN governing systems in opposition to America's BOTTOM-UP Spirit, and Constitution.
The phrase, "separation of of Church and State" does NOT appear anywhere in the Constitution—it is derived from an 1802 Jefferson letter, which in its original context, is TOTALLY ANTITHETICAL to the popular usage of the phrase. The first letter of correspondence was written by a citizen expressing grave concern for his Religious Liberty now that a local opposition party had come into power, and so in his response Jefferson AFFIRMED the Protection of Religious Liberty for all Americans:
. . . Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God; that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship; that the legislative powers of government reach actions only and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church and State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.
Fun Fact: Shortly after the original completion of the Capitol Building, a Congress to which Thomas Jefferson was the President of Senate, approved the use of the State Building as a Church in 1800. Jefferson regularly attended Church in the Capitol Building throughout his Vice Presidency and his Presidency.
Great post Happy Constitution Day. I taught these to my 3rd graders. I told them they're probably the only kids here that know-even most teachers
Funny enough, none of this was taught to me in "Public" aka Government School
Mind if I copy and share?
Not at all
Wonderful post! Thanks
A couple weeks ago I bought 4 copies of the Constitution for my grandkids to give them today. Upon receiving, the booklet also contains the Declaration of Independence (decribes the tyranny the Constitution would leave beyond) and The Bill of Rights. Your post is timely and a great refresher for all Americans. Thank you.