I HATE IT WHEN....

I want to bite nails when:

Someone says “Not a Happy Camper”…

Someone says “It’s a win win situation”…

Someone says “You know what I’m saying”…

Someone says “Hellooooo!!”…

Someone says the word “LIKE”… multiple times in a sentence 

Actors use  fake and insulting Southern accents in movies and tv shows

Now add your list of items that drive you crazy.

The Gettysburg Address

To digress from our examination of the Constitution, 137 years ago today, November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most famous speeches in the history of our country, The Gettysburg Address.  Here it is in its entirety, with no commentary.  However, if you would like to comment on it, please feel free to do so:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

...and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity..

This section examines the clause..."and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity"


The framers were very concerned that they were creating a nation where citizens could look forward to being free as opposed to looking out for the interests of a king. More than for themselves, they wanted to be sure that the future generations of Americans would enjoy the same. The blessings of liberty refers to all of the benefits that are afforded by having liberty. Free speech, the right to peacefully assemble, freedom of religion, the right to own property, the right to travel freely within and between states, etc. These and many others are the blessings of liberty. It goes beyond the mere implication that liberty is a blessing. They not only sought the blessings of liberty for themselves but wanted to ensure that these benefits wereset up in a manner that will guarantee the same for our children and theirs and so on.

"promote the general Welfare"

The next clause in the Preamble to the Constitution to be studied is "promote the general Welfare":


promote the general Welfare

This, and the next part of the Preamble, are the culmination of everything that came before it, and is the whole point of having tranquility, justice, and defense was to promote the general welfare — to allow every state and every citizen of those states to benefit from what the government could provide. The framers wanted expansion of land holdings, industry, and investment, and they knew that a strong national government would be the beginning of that.

“Promote the general welfare" is simply a justification listed as to why a constitution was required. This meant that the document itself is asserted to "promote the general welfare”, or to work together for the common good . The Preamble does not grant any particular authority to the federal government and it does not prohibit any particular authority. It establishes the fact that the federal government has no authority outside of what follows the preamble, as amended.   "Welfare" means health, happiness, prosperity or well-being. The country has an interest in promoting or maintaining the well-being and liberty of its people.

Congress was granted the power to promote the general welfare of the nation by the Constitution of the United States. It means that Congress should provide laws that are in keeping with the principles of the self governed. It means that Congress may provide legislation that acts in a general best interest of a nation.
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The General Welfare clause was a limitation of federal power written into the Preamble. Benjamin Franklin proposed a tax for canals. Canals were important for businesses to receive and ship merchandise.

Governor Morris of New York argued that it wasn't right to tax the whole people while only those towns that had canals would benefit. This started a discussion about the powers of the federal government to tax.

They finally came up with the General Welfare clause which the Founders meant that unless the whole people of the United States would benefit from the tax, you should not promote it. Only the general, or the whole, welfare of the people should benefit from the tax.


Questions, comments, snide remarks?

...provide for the common defenc(s)e...

The next portion of the Preamble to the Constitution is...provide for the common defenc(s)e...


The new nation was fearful of attack from all sides — and no one state was really capable of fending off an attack from land or sea by itself. No one of the United States could go it alone. They needed each other to survive in the harsh world of international politics of the 18th century.

To provide for the common defense" is a phrase in the US constitution, it signifies one of the reasons that the individual states are banding together in a union: to provide an effective, unified military force to protect all of the states together (as opposed to each state fielding it's own military to protect itself independently).

It means that the government will provide the necessary things for the nations defense: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, etc. to protect Americans from foreign enemies.

The government will ensure protection to the states and territories and to all citizens/residents thereof in the event of conflict with any foreign nation.

Are there other interpretations to this clause?  Let's hear from you.

..to insure domestic tranquility...

The next protion of the Preamble is .. to insure domestic tranquility...

It means to keep peace at home; to maintain law and order (tranquility) within the country (domestic). The framers felt that one of the federal government's jobs was to keep peace within our borders by using the National Guard, police forces, and other means of control. These branches are not necessarily military, but are used like one when needed. The National Guard (a method of keeping tranquility) is the states' way of taking part in their right to have a militia. The police force is used to enforce the laws of a district, whether it be a city, state, county, or town.

One of the events that caused the Convention to be held was the revolt of Massachusetts farmers known as Shays' Rebellion. The taking up of arms by war veterans revolting against the state government was a shock to the system. The keeping of the peace was on everyone's mind, and the maintenance of tranquility at home was a prime concern. The framers hoped that the new powers given the federal government would prevent any such rebellions in the future.

What are your thoughts?

Preamble to the Constitution (continued) ...."establish justice"

Re establish justice, injustice, unfairness of laws and in trade, was of great concern to the people of 1787. People looked forward to a nation with a level playing field, where courts were established with uniformity and where trade within and outside the borders of the country would be fair and unmolested.

Although the preamble sets forth the goals of the Constitution, one of them being to establish justice, the Supreme Court has ruled that it is not an independent source of rights. The court ruled, in 1905, that although this goal, to establish Justice (and other goals, ie insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity...) is a declared right of the Constitution, no power can be exerted to that end by the United States, unless, apart from the Preamble, it be found in some express delegation of power, or in some power to be properly implied therefrom.

Give us your thoughts about this clause. Have we established a truly just society? How does it compare to other nation's justice systems (not just the courts)?