[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 137 (Monday, September 17, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H10413]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CONSTITUTION RATIFIED 220 YEARS AGO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Franks) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, today marks the 220th anniversary 
of the ratification of one of the greatest documents written in the 
history of man.
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, it is safe to say that other than the Bible and 
our Declaration of Independence, no other document has so impacted the 
course of human history and freedom throughout the world.
  That is because 220 years ago, the Framers of our Constitution did 
something singular in the long account of tyrannies, governments, and 
institutions invented whereby man sought to govern his fellow man.
  A small courageous set of soldiers, farmers, aristocrats and 
tradesmen banded together and forever threw off the yoke of the crown 
of England to ``secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and their 
posterity.''
  Their resolve was ratified with the Declaration of Independence that 
was in fact a promise to future generations to never again subject our 
children to the unchecked tyranny of arbitrary human government.
  In those tumultuous days, there was perhaps no better or more 
justifiable case for establishing a permanent monarchy than under the 
noble and flint-like leadership of General George Washington. Many 
urged the general to do just that. But, Mr. Speaker, instead those 
first Americans took it upon themselves to do something completely 
revolutionary. Those men, who had seized for themselves potentially 
unlimited power over a nascent state completely vulnerable to the 
dictates of tyranny, chose instead to place immovable checks and 
limitations upon their own power and upon all those in government who 
would follow them.
  The European model of life said that God gave authority to kings and 
a government of kings who would hold the rights of men in their hands. 
The American model encapsulated the divine message of human dignity: We 
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created, that 
they are all equal, and that they are all endowed by their creator with 
certain inalienable rights and that government exists to secure those 
rights.
  Mr. Speaker, those first Americans understood that all men were 
individually accountable to God and that he first gave each of them the 
right to live. Without this first right of life firmly secured and 
clearly understood, they knew that all other rights would become 
meaningless; but with it, all other rights would follow.
  They were right, Mr. Speaker. The Constitution of the United States 
built upon the Declaration of Independence and its proclamation of a 
self-evident truth that all men are created equal, and laid upon that 
foundation the rights of freedom of all kinds, of speech and religion, 
the right to own property, the right of individuals to bear arms, and 
the right to choose a government of the people, for the people, and by 
the people.
  Mr. Speaker, the Constitution of the United States is a statement of 
eternal truths as much as it is a statement of principles that govern a 
nation. Now more than ever as we take this day to commemorate the 
framing and establishment of that Constitution that for 220 years has 
served as the archetype of free democratic nations and governments all 
over the world, it is absolutely incumbent upon all of us to 
desperately remember the meaning of those words and to renew our 
commitment to guard against every erosion of that document and the 
liberties it embodies. But most importantly, the protection of the 
right to live.
  Daniel Webster's admonition to all of us is so appropriate. He said: 
``Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for 
which it stands. Miracles do not cluster and what has happened once in 
6,000 years may never happen again. If the American Constitution should 
fall, there will be anarchy throughout the world.''
  Mr. Speaker, Senator Webster's voice no longer sounds in these 
Chambers, but I pray that we hear his message anew in our hearts, and I 
hope we can renew our own oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of 
the United States, that miraculous document that has so valiantly and 
nobly served the cause of humanity for 220 years.

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