An Essay on: Is the U.S. Constitution a Living Document?

Yesterday, I posted the first of the three essays I wrote for my Patriot Academy entrance.  By popular demand, I've decided to post the second one today.

By Destiny Palmer

5/3/13

In your opinion, should the U.S. Constitution be considered to be a living document, the interpretation of which changes with circumstances? Why?

Words matter! When writing the U.S. Constitution the founding fathers carefully selected their words because they have a specific meaning. With this careful selection they composed a document for the purpose of protecting the rights of the American people. They knew that the governing officials would need an unchanging, set guideline to refer to throughout the ages to accomplish this task. Thus, purposefully they used certain words with specific definitions, so that our liberty would be preserved for generations to come rather than misinterpretations restricting it.

However, with the English language constantly evolving, many word definitions are no longer the same as when the forefathers wrote our founding documents. They knew that was bound to happen. Let's face it, languages are always changing! And they also knew just how injurious those changes were bound to be. If the Constitution were to be redefined by today's language, not only would the constitution fail in it's duty in protecting the people's rights but could be used against the people instead. James Madison once said, “What a metamorphosis would be produced in the code of law if all its ancient phraseology were to be taken in its modern sense."

The evolution of the English language does not change the job of the Constitution, it just makes it harder for us to understand and interpret. Noah Webster, one of America's founders, wrote the 1828 dictionary, in order to preserve the language that our founding fathers used when writing our founding documents so that future generations would be able to understand what they meant. Because words matter, and he knew that the evolution of the English language was inevitable. The only way we can properly comprehend the Constitution is to return to the original language that the founding fathers used. Like Thomas Jefferson said, “On every question of construction carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.”

Therefore, in my opinion the U.S. Constitution is not a living document that changes through the ages. As its purpose stays the same and the original intent of the founding fathers is unchanging, the U.S. Constitution should always be applied in the sense in which it was passed.