EDITORIAL: Happy Constitution Day

We celebrate the country's birthday each July Fourth, the date the American colonies officially declared their independence from Great Britain and formed the United States of America. But while enjoying fireworks and barbecue, few of us take time to consider that our nation was formed and fought to be free without having a president, a Supreme Court or a national legislature. For more than a decade, the United States had no constitution, only Articles of Confederation.

Today marks another significant anniversary for our nation, albeit one that isn't a holiday. Sept. 17 is the 228th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution, the document that established our form of government and spelled out its functions. On this day in 1787, 39 signatures concluded the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. The work of those patriots and the dozen or so other delegates who contributed to the process remains one of the most underrated accomplishments in American history.

A new form of government had been created, with three co-equal branches governed by checks and balances. The bicameral legislature, with one house providing representation by population and the other affording every state equal power, seems unremarkable today but in fact was the result of an excruciating compromise that saved the union. The government's powers were limited by design, to better protect the liberties of its people. (It would be an additional four years before the first 10 amendments to that document, the Bill of Rights, were adopted. We celebrate Bill of Rights Day each Dec. 15.)

And our founders accomplished this task in just under four months, in just over 4,000 words. The beauty of the supreme law of the land — the law by which all others, at every level of government, are judged — is its brevity. It is no coincidence that as our laws and regulations grow wordier, they become more confusing while expanding the size and power of government. It also is no coincidence that the U.S. Constitution, the shortest national constitution in the world, is also the oldest.

Although our government leaders take an oath to uphold the Constitution, they quickly forget it. Increasingly, the executive and judicial branches try to make law, which is supposed to be the purview of the legislative branch. Each branch is guilty of ignoring the plain wording of the Constitution when it suits someone's political interest. And they'll keep doing it if we don't care enough to hold them accountable for turning our government into something the framers never intended.

As Benjamin Franklin, the oldest signer of our Constitution at age 81, said — and warned — upon leaving Independence Hall and being asked what form of government the Constitutional Convention had established: "A republic, if you can keep it."

Happy Constitution Day.