OCR Text |
Show Constitution's survival is remarkable Editor's Note: Dr. Hinman is a Farmington native and resident, an attorney with Kirton, McConkie & Bushnell, Salt Lake, and a former college professor. Her academic credentials include: B.A. (highest honors, hon-ors, political science), U. of Utah; Fulbright Fellow (constitutional history), his-tory), London U. (England): M.A. and Ph.D. (doctoral thesis in constitutional constitu-tional law), Harvard U.; J.D. (Law Review), U. of Chicago Law School. By DR. M. KARLYNN HINMAN The United States Constitution is not the oldest constitution in history. Aristotle wrote a constitution for Athens. Other early constitutions, whether or not adopted, were written. But our Constitution is the oldest Constitution which is still in effect. The Constitution came into being almost three hundred years after the discovery of the New World in the late Fifteenth Century. Permanent settlements began to blossom during the next two centuries. People came to escape old ties and restrictions restric-tions at a time when the worth of the individual was being rediscovered as a moral and philosophical value. Many who settled in the New World came at considerable sacrifice and effort. Others, destitute in their homelands, had nothing to lose, but they had great hope and strength to offer. Their new country had land available to those willing to clear it, settle it and sometimes fight for it. People had their first chance to have something of their own, to make their own place to live and to provide a future for their children. All of these factors influenced a national philosophy, which incorporated fundamental values of limited government, freedom free-dom of conscience and protection of private ownership. New settlers constantly added their own hopes for peace and progress. prog-ress. As the new country matured and prospered, its beliefs and values were written and discussed. During that first three hundred years, the growing population groped with finding new forms of governance. Some found that the colonial charters which had been impressed upon them failed to express their fundamental beliefs. Gradually and sometimes some-times grudgingly, the colonies began to think of themselves as a unit. Discontent with a government across an ocean grew, leading lead-ing to a revolution and the loose Articles of Confederation which expressed the newly independent states' early efforts at unifying into a nation. The Articles of Confederation, although stating some valuable principles, proved unworkable and flawed. Some wanted to reform the Articles, but others truck out on a bolder course: to create a new document, in the words they later adopted, "to create a more perfect union." The Constitution was their great achievement.' Together, the old settlers and the new had expressed their dedication and commitment to finding something better for themselves and their children. They had cast a philosophy upon the new nation which has helped to make the Constitution survive. The Constitution could thrive among people who saw a chance and a future; as years passed and new generations grew, the people recognized that the Constitution itself helped give them their chance and their future. It represented their hopes and their manner of solving problems. There are thus many reasons our Constitution has survived. One of the most important is that it states principles of goven-mental goven-mental integrity and power which have commanded broad popular support among the citizenry. Equally as important, the Constitution itself represents a moral and political force in the nation, influencing by its very existence and language the values and beliefs which Americans accept and revere. The Constitution's Constitu-tion's survival is remarkable, but its principles and development are even more remarkable. As these articles continue, we will examine some of the values stated by the Constitution and the manner in which it has organized our government and our use of power. It is an exciting study. C 1987. |