The United States’ founding documents – the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, known collectively as the Charters of Freedom – together form the cornerstone of our republic. They provide foundational democratic principles to guide our nation and establish its governing institutions and processes.
Together, these documents created a self-correcting system that allows our nation to evolve and constantly strive to fulfill these lofty founding ideals – that all should be equal before the law, that the government should derive its power from the people, that citizens have the right to choose their government and so much more.
In 1776, the Declaration of Independence boldly asserted what the Founding Fathers called “self-evident” truths – that we are endowed by our creator with “certain unalienable rights.” This both challenged a powerful king and proposed a different conception of government. The Declaration also rebutted the notion of autocratic rule and asserted the radical idea that governments should “deriv(e) their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
After declaring independence and winning a bloody war against the British Crown, the Founding Fathers then began the difficult task of forming a new government. The Constitution of the United States, which would come into full effect in 1789, began with these famous words: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
The Constitution codified the idea that the government should be dedicated to the service of the American people and anchored in justice and liberty. This document delineated the powers and responsibilities of the newly formed branches of government, democratic processes for elections and decision-making, and the balance of power between states and the federal government, among many other issues. This timeless document served as the defining foundation of our nation and endures today as our national compass and guardrails.
Just two years later, the new republic adopted the Bill of Rights. It checked the power of the nascent national government by recognizing and ensuring the protection of inherent freedoms. In fact, some signers of the Constitution had made their approval contingent on the creation of the Bill of Rights: They thought it was critical to explicitly defend the fundamental rights of individuals from any future encroachment by the federal government. And this has given our nation the flexibility to add amendments to the Constitution, the most recent having been ratified in 1992, which prohibits any law changing the compensation of Senators and Representatives from taking effect until after an election of Representatives has occurred.
It’s remarkable, and almost unfathomable, that a group of leaders would launch a democratic experiment anchored in liberty, democracy, and individual freedom in the 1700s. It’s phenomenal that they would develop a nation in which the people have a voice, the government is limited, and rights are protected. And even more notable, it has held for almost 250 years.
History has shown us that the United States has, from its very beginning, fallen short – painfully short – of the lofty ideals captured in these documents. Over our 250-year history, many people have been denied the protections and rights enshrined in our founding instruments and suffered at the hands of the very government empowered to protect the people. And yet the remarkable characteristic of our republic is that it is these very documents that have served as essential tools in overcoming those shortfalls.
Those who were denied their freedoms have been able to point to the promises of these documents as evidence of our shortcomings.
In fighting against the evils of slavery, Frederick Douglass called the Constitution a “a glorious liberty document” and implored our government to end the institution and fully embrace the founding principles for all people. In advocating for women’s rights, Susan B. Anthony argued that these original documents guaranteed God-given rights, not ones that should be determined by men – a clear indication that women deserved equal rights. In his fight for Civil Rights of all Americans, Martin Luther King pointed to what he called the “magnificent words” of the Declaration and the Constitution, while calling on our nation to make good on the promissory note of these great documents.
As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in July, we have an important opportunity to remember the extraordinary legacy of our founding documents. We must seize the great challenge we have been given to ensure that we live fully into the aspirations of these foundational pieces.
Democracy is a verb.
