As we celebrate July 4, 2022, there’s the controversy over the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
However, the threats of the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, began much sooner when he stood in front of the Supreme Court building, yelling “I want to tell you — you have released a whirlwind… you will not know what hit you.”
There are demonstrations led by others who were elected to uphold the Constitution, such as the mayor of Chicago screaming at a rally “F**k you, Justice Thomas.” The irony is these folks seek the very protections they are trying to deny the justices and which are guaranteed by the same justices. Are controversies new?
The U.S. was born out of controversies when a small group of men, called the Continental Congress, met in a building, later named Independence Hall, in the usual hot, humid summer in Philadelphia, and asked 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson to write a document, which would become the Declaration of Independence, to capsulized their feelings about their controversies with the king of England.
Imagine that writer sitting in front of a candle with quill in hand facing a blank sheet of parchment with his mind filled with the questions that always haunt writers: Where do I start? What am I doing? Why me?
Jefferson’s quill produced the word “Declaration” — “a formal announcement of the beginning of a state or condition” — which when followed by “Independence” indicated it was both a state” and a “condition.” About then, he may have asked: Is it happy hour yet?
Jefferson then wrote the reason for the document as, “When … it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the Political Bands” (interesting label for the connection with England). Jefferson then cited the authority for the declaration of “to which the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them” (an authority bigger than any person) before citing a reason to proclaim that “decent respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they declare the causes which impel them,” setting the stage for their complaints.
Jefferson’s quill continued, “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” (Defining these fundamental rights and removing the granting of them from being determined by any persons still resonates after 246 years.)
A debate was held by the Continental Congress, who with the exception of Ben Franklin’s being 70 years old, were not exactly what we would think of as “elder statesmen.” There was James Hamilton, at 18, who many today would argue was too young to drink alcohol, vote and barely qualified for safe intimate relations. Alexander Hamilton was 21; James Madison, 25. John Hancock, who would sign large enough that “King George could read it,” was all of 39. Even though some signed it on July 2, July 4 was selected as the date to celebrate as the day that most of them signed it.
The Revolutionary War was led by the 43–44-year-old George Washington, the 18-year-old French general the Marquis de Lafayette and the 28-year-old John Paul Jones, who became known as the “father of our navy.” Sort of humbling for me; how about you?
After the Declaration of Independence declared the U.S. as independent, in 1777 the Articles of Confederation established a format for the structure of the new government. However, having just fought a war to eliminate the rules being set by persons not within their states, each of the 13 states wanted to retain their ability to set their own rules. This was a fatal flaw.
The Congress turned to James Madison, who under the Virginia Plan had created the three branches of government (legislative, executive and judicial) to write what would become the US Constitution — an aggregate of fundamental principles that constitute the legal bases of a policy that determine how an entity is to be governed.
The beginning of the Constitution expresses its objective as “We the People of the United States” (establishing who has the power), “in order to form a more perfect Union” (purpose), “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty” (specific objectives)” for ourselves and our Posterity” (who’s covered) “do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America” (action taken).
When New Hampshire ratified the Constitution on June 21, 1788, it became the law of the land. After 234 years, with the exception of amendments, the Constitution remains unchanged.
James Madison expressed the philosophy he followed in creating the Constitution as “In framing a government to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place obligate it to control itself.”
Madison and Thomas Jefferson wrote the first 10 Amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, to help the government “to control itself.” The 10th Amendment prevents the government from taking additional rights, and this amendment is the center of the controversy over whether the control of abortions belongs with the federal government (Roe case) or with each state (Dobbs case). The Constitution protects peaceful protests but not violence against the justices.
Brent E. Zepke is an attorney, arbitrator and author who lives in Santa Barbara. Formerly he taught at six universities and numerous professional conferences. He is the author of six books: “One Heart-Two Lives,” “Legal Guide to Human Resources,” “Business Statistics,” “Labor Law,” “Products and the Consumer” and “Law for Non-Lawyers.”
