[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 58 (Wednesday, March 29, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H3884]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       A ROUGH DRAFT MADE BETTER

  (Mr. GOSS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the gentlelady from Colorado said 
the Constitution was not a rough draft. I agree that the bedrock 
principles upon which this Nation was founded are not in need of 
refinement. But 27 times--on 25 different issues if you subtract out 
the on-again/off-again concept of prohibition--the sons and daughters 
of our Founding Fathers revised the Constitution to better adapt those 
principles to the times. I am sure the gentlelady agrees that the Bill 
of Rights, the 13th amendment abolishing slavery, the 15th amendment 
affirming the right of all races to vote, the 19th amendment granting 
women's suffrage, or even the 22d amendment--which embodies term limits 
for the President of the United States--have improved upon the Founding 
Fathers' work. No, the Constitution was not a rough draft--it was a 
living document and it can withstand prudent modifications to reflect 
the march of time. Support term limits.
  The author of the first Bill of Rights in this country said: 
``Nothing so strongly impels a man to regard the interests of his 
constituents as the certainty of returning to the general mass of the 
people from whence he was taken.''
  So said George Mason, IV, who refused to sign the Constitution 
because term limits was not in it.


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