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3: The Constitution

  • Page ID
    204104
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    America is a nation of laws. Its people and institutions are bound by rules telling them what they must do and what they must not do. When we think about laws, what usually come to mind first are statutes. A statute statute: A specific law passed by a legislature. is a law passed by a legislature for some specific purpose, such as a new tax, a disaster relief package, or a ban on a hazardous chemical.

    What gives legislatures the right to pass laws? It cannot be that they passed laws giving themselves the ability to pass laws, for in order to do so they must already have had that ability. Rather, they draw their legitimacy from another type of law, not passed by a legislature, laying out the process by which laws can be made. This type of law is a constitution, a set of basic laws that structure a government. A constitution is the rules by which all other rules are made.

    Photograph of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Independence Hall, meeting site of the Constitutional Convention, still stands in Philadelphia’s Old City neighborhood.

    Written in 1787 and ratified by the states in 1788, the United States Constitution is the oldest active codified constitution in the world today. (San Marino’s and the United Kingdom’s constitutions are older but uncodified, meaning parts of them are not technically written into law.) Parts of it have changed since then, but its core has remained intact and in use for almost a quarter of a millennium. This level of constitutional stability is unusual among the world’s countries. In the time since America adopted its current constitution, France has adopted 16 constitutions, and the Dominican Republic has adopted 32 constitutions.

    The U.S. Constitution is not without controversy. People disagree on how to interpret the words of the Founders, which are often vague and nonspecific. Many also feel strongly that certain things should be added to, removed from, or changed in the Constitution. Still, the durability and longevity of the Constitution suggest the Founders hit upon some fundamental truths about politics and power when they designed America’s system of government. To understand their way of thinking, it helps to remember the historical context in which the Constitution was written.


    This page titled 3: The Constitution is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Benjamin R. Kantack (Tekakwitha Press) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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