Mayor Louis Manzo penned the following Mayor’s Message about the Constitution and the country’s history.
I have felt compelled to write about the political rhetoric we’ve all sadly become numb to recently, but I will do that another time since that thought naturally caused me to think about our freedom to say whatever we want, however we want. This privilege is rooted in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which will be my topic this issue.
Though July 4, 1776 is celebrated as the birth of our nation, the reality is that date represents our declaration of independence from Great Britain. The Revolutionary War started more than a year before that with the “shot heard ‘round the world” at Lexington, Mass. in April of 1775. The fighting would last until the Battle of Yorktown in October of 1781, when a defeated Cornwallis surrendered to Gen. George Washington. Great Britain then officially recognized the sovereignty of the U.S. two years later by signing the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783.
Thus, the 13 original colonies had won their independence from the British, and basically operated independently from each other with no real central government, as the Articles of Confederation drafted during the war dictated. Skirmishes, rebellions and the need for a central defense from foreign invasion made it clear that the underfunded Confederation government was inadequate to manage the issues that arose between the states. That was the motivation to convene the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in the Summer of 1787. The perceived objective of this gathering was to amend the existing Articles of Confederation to address its shortcomings. However, James Madison of Virginia and Alexander Hamilton of New York steered the 55 delegates, from 12 colonies, toward the creation of a totally new central government. Rhode Island was the only state not in attendance based upon their distrust of a powerful central government.
Washington was elected to preside over the convention that included Ben Franklin in the Pennsylvania delegation. Adams and Jefferson did not attend or participate as they were off in France and Great Britain representing our interests there. The Constitution, which would become the cornerstone for democracy and freedom in the world, was hammered out between May 25 and Sept. 17 in 1787, just a few miles from here. After nearly two years of debate, our current system was born with Washington being sworn in as our first president on April 30, 1789. All 13 states ratified the document, though, stubborn Rhode Island didn’t do so until a year later.
There are volumes written on what transpired in Philadelphia that summer. The brilliance of these men and the document they created gave birth to a three-branch government, the electoral college designed to represent all people and the first 10 amendments to define the Bill of (human) Rights. That framework has persevered for more than 200 years with only 17 additional amendments. Though imperfect and often tested, the Constitution stands as an astonishment in world history that begins and ends with one overriding premise….We the People.
This will always be America’s gift to humanity.
