Why do I share the story of our Constitution of the United States?

 

Alexander Hamilton explained it in his first published argument calling for the American People to adopt the new Constitution as their plan for a new type of government.  He wrote:

 

“... it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force. ... the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind.”

 

There will never be an end to this test, because the nature of mankind will, in each generation, breed those who would impose “political constitutions” that can only be founded on “accident and force.” Those regimes rest on people who fear self-reliance, who seek dominating leaders in the vain belief that submitting to them is the only source of security. Before America, that was the way of mankind.

 

You are now the generation who must meet this test.  If you fail, it is not likely that mankind will ever get a second chance.

 

It is my hope that the things I offer here will help you understand the challenge you face; and remind you of the tool that you have inherited to meet that challenge.