On Constitution Day, remember the fundamentals of our republic. Too many no longer do

For 234 years, the U.S. Constitution has served as the bedrock of our government. Today, more than ever, Americans must understand our political heritage. Not understanding our Constitution hampers civic discourse and threatens our freedom. On Constitution Day, reviewing some fundamental principles will improve our nation for all.

The Founding Fathers knew the Constitution was historic. George Washington recognized that the Constitution “will demonstrate as visibly the finger of Providence as any possible event in the course of human affairs,” for it created a government “nearer to perfection than any government hitherto instituted among men.” The document did not arise by chance. Some of the best political minds created it.

The constitutional structure was well designed. Thousands of years of experience had shown that human nature was inherently self-interested. The Federalists, as explained by James Madison in Federalist No. 10, knew society was prone to form factions, where a group of citizens act adverse “to the rights of other citizens or to the . . . community.” One of the primary concerns the Constitution addressed was how to harness human virtue while ensuring that our leaders’ self-interest would not undermine our liberty. As Alexander Hamilton put it in Federalist No. 51, “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.”

Key to the structure of American government is a recognition of the risks of a pure democracy, which is subject to corruption when majority factions take rights from the people. The genius of the founders was in adopting a republican form of government, where the people choose representatives to govern them within a system of separation of powers, checks and balances, and limited federal powers.

The separation of powers and checks and balances were meant to protect against any single faction gaining control over the government. Thus, Congress has authority to pass laws; the House to spend money; the Senate to confirm officers and adopt treaties; the president to enforce laws and command the army; and the courts to interpret laws. Even the selection of the president by the Electoral College instead of a national popular vote limits any faction’s influence by ensuring a president’s broad appeal to a wide range of America.

These structural protections have eroded over time, for example, through increasing delegations of legislative power to administrative agencies or presidents exercising legislative power cloaked as executive orders. Such erosion jeopardizes the constitutional guard against factional control, and ultimately our liberty.

Federalists argued that given these structural protections, there was no need for a bill of rights — why seek to protect the people against powers the federal government could never exercise? Hamilton summed it up in Federalist No. 84: the Constitution “will be the bill of rights of the union.” Anti-Federalists, who opposed the Constitution, pointed to the expansive delegation of any federal power “necessary and proper” to exercise a delegated power.

Anti-Federalist concerns have proven prescient. Few founders imagined the federal government’s extensive powers today. The understanding to adopt a bill of rights paved the way for the Constitution’s ratification. Three years later, Madison championed the Bill of Rights, protecting fundamental rights such as the freedom of speech and religion, the right to a jury trial, and protection against unreasonable government searches. Many of these rights traced back nearly 600 years to Magna Carta in 1215.

The Constitution’s structure and the Bill of Rights, however, are not limitless guardrails of our liberty. Republics are protected by virtue and knowledge. That is why, as Washington said, a “primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government.”

We are failing on that front. Just 25% of our students test “proficient” in civics education.

To combat this, Gov. Little and several other governors have signed proclamations designating October as Civics Awareness Month. We can test our civics knowledge by taking the citizenship exam of 100 questions that new citizens must pass. Your results may surprise you; nearly 60% of Americans cannot pass. And we can study the answers and discuss them in our families and communities. Short videos produced by D.C. Circuit Judge Douglas Ginsburg for each citizenship question are good resources available at civicsfundamentals.org.

We were gifted the greatest freedoms, enjoyed by a small minority in world history. As designed, the Constitution has endured for more than two centuries. It has survived a Civil War, the evil institution of slavery, world wars, the Great Depression, voter disenfranchisement, presidential impeachments and election turmoil. The Constitution was intended to heal our divisions over time and make our nation strong. What it cannot survive is the people’s ignorance of the freedoms we enjoy. If we teach these principles to the next generations, the Constitution will endure another 200 years.

This story was originally published September 17, 2022 at 4:00 AM.