Constitution Day

            The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns Constitution Day. On September 17, 1787, the Constitution of the United States was signed and sent to the States for ratification. Today we celebrate the 230^th anniversary of the signing of this great document.

            Larry P. Arnn, President of Hillsdale College, is a strong believer in the importance of maintaining the Constitution. In a letter sent to supporters of his college, he gives the following explanation of the importance of the Constitution as well as a picture of how the Constitution is being discarded.

Why is the Constitution so important? Because it designed a government that had sufficient powers to secure our God-given, natural rights; a government that was otherwise limited in its power; and a government that would be accountable to the people, who would remain sovereign. Under the Constitution, America quickly became the freest, most prosperous nation in human history.

Over the past century, our government has tended to operate less and less in accordance with the principles of our Constitution, and more and more in accordance with opposing principles – principles that favored less limited, even despotic rule by unelected bureaucrats in regulatory agencies.

            Hillsdale College teaches its students and encourages many other people to learn as much as possible about the U.S. Constitution and how the government is supposed to work. I have learned many important facts by taking its online classes.

            Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spoke at the Freedom Festival in Provo, Utah, in 1989. His remarks titled “The Divinely Inspired Constitution” were published in the February 1992 Ensign. Although his main points are about how God inspired the writers of the Constitution, he also explains why the U.S. Constitution is important to our nation as well as to the entire world.

The United States Constitution was the first written constitution in the world. It has served Americans well, enhancing freedom and prosperity during the changed conditions of more than two hundred years. Frequently copied, it has become the United States’ most important export. After two centuries, every nation in the world except six have adopted written constitutions, and the U.S. Constitution was a model for all of them. No wonder modern revelation says that God established the U.S. Constitution and that it “should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:77).

            God inspired the men who wrote the U.S. Constitution in order to preserve the agency that He had given to all mankind. The Constitution of the United States is a pattern used by many countries. The closer the pattern is followed, the greater the freedom of the people of the world. This writing and ratification of this Constitution constitutes one of the greater of miracles of God in blessing His children.