[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 124 (Thursday, September 17, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10457-S10459]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          211TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SIGNING OF THE CONSTITUTION

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, as I look about at my distinguished 
colleagues seated in the august Senate chamber, I find myself mentally 
transported to another gathering of distinguished leaders, in another 
elegant chamber, that occurred exactly two hundred and eleven years ago 
today.
  The date was Monday, September 17; the setting, the Philadelphia 
State House. It had been a long, hot summer, and only 38 of the 55 
delegates attending the Constitutional Convention were still in 
attendance. One can imagine the commingled sense of pride, nervous 
excitement, and exhaustion that filled these men as they filed into the 
State House chamber and took their seats. For awaiting them that day 
was a task that they must have eagerly anticipated for several months--
and that many of them feared might never arrive. It was to be the 
fruition of their diligent, patient, frustrating summer of debate, 
discussion, and dispute. Finally, they would put their signatures to 
the document, freshly copied on parchment in neat script, that they

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had spent the summer composing. And so it was that, after a protracted 
and at times painful labor, on September 17, 1787, the Constitution was 
signed. Today, this document, little changed since its creation in 
Philadelphia, celebrates its 211th birthday.
  Before the signing ceremony took place, Benjamin Franklin rose to 
speak one last time to his colleagues. Some of them still had 
reservations about the document that the Convention had drafted, and 
Franklin, as he had so often that summer, used his customary self-
deprecating charm and understated wisdom to try to win them over. 
Acknowledging that the draft Constitution might well contain some 
``faults,'' Franklin added, however:

       I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain may 
     be able to make a better Constitution. For when you assemble 
     a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, 
     you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, 
     their passions, their errors of opinion, their local 
     interests, and their selfish views. From such an Assembly can 
     a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, 
     Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as 
     it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are 
     waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are 
     confounded like those of the Builders of Babel. . . .

  Mr. President, I, too, continue to be astonished at the perfection of 
this document. The more I study it, the more I see it in action--as we 
all do here, on a daily basis--the more I marvel at the handiwork of 
those 55 men in Philadelphia. What transpired that summer in 
Philadelphia's State House was truly one of the great events in the 
history of this Republic--it is not a democracy; it is a Republic--or 
in the history of the world. Indeed, it is no stretch to call this 
Constitution, as Gladstone did, ``the most wonderful work ever struck 
off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.''
  Part of the strength of the Constitution lies in its ability to 
accommodate situations and developments that the Framers could never 
have anticipated. Just as Seneca tells us that the test of a strong man 
is adversity, so the true test of the Constitution may be how well it 
handles the unexpected. So far, Mr. President, the Constitution has 
passed that test with flying colors. It has seen us through two 
centuries of staggering technological, economic, social, and political 
transformations.
  We may well be entering a new period of upheaval which will further 
test the Constitution's strength and elasticity. Some have even 
suggested that we are entering ``a constitutional crisis.'' I, for one, 
have greater faith in the Framers' handiwork. The Constitution sets up 
a clear process for investigating and resolving allegations of 
wrongdoing by the Executive and other civil officers. The House is 
assigned the power of impeachment and the Senate the power to try 
impeachments. The current situation may well not result in impeachment, 
but if it does--and that is just one possibility--then I am confident 
that, as long as we in the House and the Senate fulfill our 
constitutional duties solemnly and judiciously, we will see the nation 
through this and any future difficulties.
  Sadly, just as current events reaffirm the importance of knowing and 
following constitutional processes and procedures, a new poll indicates 
that America's youth are largely ignorant of the Constitution and its 
origins. It seems that every few months a new poll appears which plumbs 
the depths of ignorance among some of our children. Each time, we hope 
that we have finally reached the bottom of the abyss; each time, we are 
disappointed when a new survey a little later indicates that the depths 
are deeper and darker than we ever realized.
  The latest sounding of the depths comes to us through the courtesy of 
a poll by the National Constitution Center, which shows that while 
American teenagers are Rhodes Scholars in popular culture, in many 
instances many are sadly deficient in matters constitutional. The study 
found that by a wide margin, 59 percent to 41 percent, more American 
teenagers can name the Three Stooges than can name the three branches 
of government. Less than 3 percent of teens could name the Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court, while almost 95 percent could name the 
television actor who played the ``Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.'' And less 
than one-third could name the Speaker of the House, while almost 9 of 
10 could name the star of the T.V. show ``Home Improvement.''
  It gets worse, Mr. President. Why, just one-quarter of the teens 
could name the city in which the Constitution was written! Only one-
quarter knew what the 5th Amendment protects. Only 21% knew how many 
Senators there are. And less than half knew the name given to the first 
ten amendments.
  These should not be difficult questions to answer. This is not a 
matter of knowing whether the Constitution allows states to grant 
letters of Marque and Reprisal--it doesn't--or citing cases over which 
the Supreme Court has original, rather than appellate, jurisdiction. 
One should not need a degree in constitutional history, or a course in 
constitutional law, to know the name of the Speaker of the House. 
Indeed, answering many of the questions I cited requires only a cursory 
familiarity with current events. What's more, over half of the teens 
interviewed said they read or listen to the news for at least 15 
minutes daily, over half said their teachers discuss politics at least 
a few times a week, and yet, only a handful could recall the names of 
Newt Gingrich or William Rehnquist.
  Where does the fault lie, Mr. President? With our schools, for 
failing to provide students with the most rudimentary background in 
civics and government? With the media, for its shallow and trivializing 
coverage of important issues? Or with parents, for failing to prepare 
their children for their responsibilities as citizens? With the entire 
national culture, for placing greater emphasis on the fashion tips of 
supermodels and the escapades of rock stars than on the accomplishments 
and heroics of great men and women of the past and present?
  Perhaps all of these entities must share some responsibility for this 
sad state of affairs. But my purpose today, Mr. President, is not to 
cast blame. I speak not in anger but in sadness, out of a concern for 
the welfare of our country and the future generations which will assume 
its leadership. This country will not long continue to occupy its 
unique position among the nations of the world if it does not 
adequately prepare its children to pick up the reins of power that the 
older generations currently wield. We need to prepare our children to 
be active, informed, involved citizens. We need to make them aware of 
how our governmental system operates and what part they play within it. 
We need, in short, to teach them about the Constitution.
  For it is the Constitution that lays out the Federal system of 
government. It is the Constitution that establishes the separation of 
certain powers and the sharing of other powers among three distinct but 
overlapping branches of government, and between one Federal and 
multiple State governments. The Constitution is the secular bible of 
this Republic, and, given its importance, its brevity, and its 
accessibility, it is not too much to expect that every citizen have at 
least a passing familiarity with it.
  Even this is not enough, however. The Constitution, as I suggested at 
the beginning, is the product of a particularly momentous course of 
events. Simply reading the words of the Constitution without knowing 
something of those events is like learning about World War I by reading 
the Treaty of Versailles. We cannot teach our children to understand 
and respect this document unless they learn its history. They must 
learn about the considerable intellectual and physical energy that 
those 55 men at Philadelphia expended in drafting this document. They 
should read some of those debates, and they should read The Federalist 
Papers and discover for themselves the principles, hopes, and fears 
that motivated the Framers.
  For the Constitution was not simply handed down to us as the Old 
Testament God handed down the Commandments to Moses. To believe that 
would be a disservice to the remarkable men who toiled long and hard to 
produce the document. The Constitution is our tangible connection with 
those men, and with the founding events of this Republic some two 
centuries ago.
  So, I close where I began: with 38 men gathered in a room at the 
Philadelphia State House some 211 years ago. While they may not have 
fully appreciated the moment of the occasion--

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how could they?--they had some inkling of it. And, of course, it was 
Franklin again who best captured the spirit of the moment. Gazing at 
the back of the President's chair, upon which the sun had been painted, 
Franklin commented:

       I have often and often in the course of the Session, and 
     the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, 
     looked at that behind the President without being able to 
     tell whether it was rising or setting: But now at length I 
     have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a 
     setting Sun.

  Today, 211 years later, that sun continues to be in the ascendant. I 
hope and pray that it will remain so for another 211 years.

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