Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Part One: A New Order for the Ages

Because the delegates were originally sent to Philadelphia with the purpose of amending the Articles of Confederation and came back with an entirely new governmental plan and a new Constitution they had a lot of justifying to do. The Federalists could have threatened the people with all kinds of consequences should the Constitution fail to be ratified. Instead they took the calm, logical approach (not done today too often) and addressed each of the legitimate objections, explaining why this was the best alternative. Publius argued in a civil tone avoiding personal attacks. He was trying to bring the country together, not divide and conquer (what a concept!). It was made clear that this document was being debated and recommended, not forced on the people.

Politicians by definition are a dividing force in society. Throughout our history our unity comes from our common values and virtues (which seem to be not so common anymore) not our politicians. Many of our values and virtues are voiced in our Declaration of Independence as well as the Constitution. Unity in Europe was different from our unity. It often came from royalty - all bowed before the king. Other forms of country unity comes from other forms of force.

Our system is by no means perfect, and the Constitution was almost not given a chance for that very reason. The sinful nature of imperfect man makes it impossible to create a perfect system, but if we hold true to our core principles petty partisan squabbles can be dealt with.

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