Community shares importance of the Constitution

The American dream: an idea that living in America provides equal opportunity; the opportunity to make nothing into something through hard work. In other words, the story of “rags to riches” is celebrated on National Constitution Day.

Spurred by this idea or “dream”, immigrants began to flood to America in the 19th century. Another reason to come to America was this idea of freedom, soon making America a melting pot filled with different cultures and beliefs.

To celebrate the foundation of America, National Constitution Day is celebrated Sept. 17. This day is when the Constitution was signed and completed in 1787.

The Constitution plays a major role in the running or the behind-the-scenes of America. It is made up of the supreme law for the U.S. It includes the preamble (introduction), the seven articles (main body) and 27 amendments (additions or changes to the Constitution after it was created). Without this important document, America would not have a foundation or laws to run correctly.

Middle school history teacher Hallie Rojeski shares what the Constitution means to her and what she wants her students to take away from the Constitution unit.

“The Constitution creates the form of government that protects our inalienable rights,” Rojeski said. “As well as it allows us to exercise our free will and become the person God created each of us to be. I hope the one thing my students take away from this unit is that this country can only exist as a nation as long as God is the center of our lives and our nation does not completely reject Him.”

To write the Constitution in the late 1700s, 12 out of the 13 states sent delegates or representatives to the Constitution Convention. This convention lasted for 116 days with non-stop writing and revising of the document with many different drafts.

Finally, this process ended on Sept. 17, 1787, with the final document: The Constitution. Thirty-nine delegates signed the document and were involved in this historical moment.

Sharing this holiday, Citizenship Day celebrates those who have become naturalized to legally become citizens in America. They are able to celebrate their responsibilities and opportunities of being an American citizen.

Rojeski continues to teach the Constitution after 31 years at Fresno Christian. All eighth graders are required to take U.S. history as a requirement to graduate to high school. During this course, the Constitution unit teaches students the foundation of America, what the U.S. government consists of and how America evolved from Great Britain to become its own country.

In the podcast below Annabelle Messer, ’20, interviews Carston Saelzler, ’21, about the Constitution, Sept. 13.

Numerous quizzes are given along the way to test all the knowledge the eighth grade students learned over the Constitution course. This unit ends with the annual Constitution test and is followed by a luncheon provided by the parents of the students. This year, the Constitution test will be on Dec. 6.

While all countries hold different governmental structures, either dictatorship, anarchy, oligarchy or monarchy, America’s government continues to practice democracy. Democracy was not written in the Constitution or apart of it at all. The founding fathers guaranteed a republic for America in article six, of the Constitution. They did not believe that democracy was the way to rule. America was supposed to be ruled by law, not by majority.

This government soon lead to tyranny and Democracy came about. Democracy simply means: power with the people. Though America has a federal government, it then branches off into 50 state-run governments. State governments have the power to make laws for their individual state.

Freshman Trinity Cox, shares her opinion on why “the people” should have the power and say in the decision making of America.

“The Constitution is a legal document of our government’s rights,” Cox said. “It is important for the people to vote and have power because, if we did not, then the leaders would take over and none of us would have a say in anything. Our government would not be a democracy, but a dictatorship.”

The following tweet from Regional Office of Education provides informational lessons on the Constitution.

Today marks National Constitution Day. Did you know #ROE21 provides Constitition testing as well as study guide information? Constitution Day Lessons and Resources | Education World https://t.co/ZHSVvisWUu pic.twitter.com/Pd5TxYjq2w

— Regional Office of Education #21 (@ROE21_FJMW) September 17, 2019

As America is a democracy, voting holds a major role in America’s decision making. The “people” or citizens of America have a right to express their opinion in the laws, elections and decisions of America. A popular opinion in America continues to be that democracy is “dying” or in a crisis. Published on Sept. 15, Andrew Fiala wrote the article “Naysayers don’t believe American democracy can survive. Let’s prove them wrong,” for the Fresno Bee. Fiala recognizes the flaws within America’s governments, as well as all country’s governments.

Fiala shares his opinion on how the Constitution is not perfect along with statistics of how many Americans know the first amendment.

“Our constitutional system is not perfect,” Fiala said. “. . . No system of government is ever perfect or complete. The same is true of “we, the people.” An Annenberg poll shows that only a third of Americans can correctly name all three branches of government. The Pew Center reports that only 17% of Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do the right thing most of the time.”

John Adams, the second U.S. president, a leader of the American revolution and a founding father of the U.S., presented his opinion on democracy within the letters of John and Abigail Adams.

“I do not say that democracy has been more pernicious on the whole, and in the long run, than monarchy or aristocracy,” Adams said. “Democracy has never been and never can be so durable as aristocracy or monarchy; but while it lasts, it is more bloody than either.

“Remember, democracy never lasts long,” Adams continued. “It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy.”

This opinion is very strong and democracy continues to run the ways of America. But no one knows for how much longer. With many issues floating around in the news and the presidential election coming up soon, Americans have a day to forget about the negative in current situations and appreciate the founding of America. The Constitution is a landmark legal document that continues its existence for over 200 years; without the Constitution, America’s democracy would be very different.

To see how well you know the freedoms of the First Amendment, check out this quiz from the Student Press Law Center.

To reach the National Constitution Center, call: (215)-409-6600.

For more articles, read 2019-’20 class representatives share vision for school year or NYFD first responder, Andy Isolano, speaks during California 9/11 Memorial. 

Annabelle Messer can be reached via email and Twitter.