Did you know that the Constitution prohibits nobility in the United States (Article I, Section 9, Clause 8), defines the only acts that can be labeled as treason in the United States (Article III, Section 3, Clause 1), and guarantees a republican form of government to every state (Article IV, Section 4)?
I didn’t realize these facts until I read the Constitution, and to my surprise, the Constitution was much easier to read and understand than I originally assumed it would be. I suppose this would make sense, because the Founding Fathers would want the nation’s guidelines to be clearly defined, yet easily understood, in the same way that each player needs to clearly understand the rules of a strategy game in order to play effectively.
The Constitution is an amazing gift that was given to us by the men who built this nation. It is an outstanding guideline for the government which recognizes and protects our unalienable, God-given Rights.
The Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, which makes it 237 years old, as of September, 2024. That is a great number of years that the Constitution has been in effect, yet it still directly applies to our lives today, and it will continue to for many more years to come. Just think about how much foresight it would take to write a document that would harmoniously govern a nation for over 200 years; they even thought to allow amendments which would help the Constitution to slightly adapt in order to address new or overlooked issues or to further protect our God-given Rights.
Constitution Reading Plan
- Day 1: Preamble and Article I, Sections 1-2
- Day 2: Article I, Sections 3-4
- Day 3: Article I, Sections 5-6
- Day 4: Article I, Section 7
- Day 5: Article I, Section 8
- Day 6: Article I, Sections 9-10
- Day 7: Article II, Section 1
- Day 8: Article II, Sections 2-4
- Day 9: Article III
- Day 10: Article IV
- Day 11: Article V, Article VI, and Article VII
Reading the Constitution is immensely important for each American to do, since you will not know what Rights you have or which ones are being infringed upon unless you read and understand the document which protects them. It also helps your understanding of the intended role of the government in the United States, and therefore, you would have an easier time realizing when and where the government is overstepping its boundaries if you knew the Constitution.
When I began reading the constitution, I imagined that it would take me months to read it, but I was surprised to arrive at the final page only three days after I began reading the Constitution.
There are only 7 articles in the Constitution, and each one addresses a new subject. Article I focuses on the Legislative Branch, Article II on the Presidency, Article III on the Judiciary, Article IV on the States, Article V on the amendment process, Article VI on the Constitution’s legal status, and Article VII on the ratification of the Constitution.
Following the plan I made will allow you to read the Constitution in just 11 days, while only spending three or four minutes reading the Constitution per day on average. I have provided a link for each day’s plan which highlights the portions of the Constitution that you need to read for each day.
Resources
I have chosen to link the Cornell Law School’s website as the source of the Constitution, but you can purchase a physical copy of my favorite Pocket Constitution by Loy Brunson for around $15, and it apparently comes with free shipping. I am not paid to promote this product, it’s simply one that I have read and found to be very informative.
For the Cornell Law School’s version, any section of the Constitution which is altered or repealed by an amendment will have a link to the amendment which alters that portion of the Constitution, but in the Pocket Constitution, those sections of the Constitution will be crossed out and an explanation as to what changed and which amendment changed it will be present at the bottom of the page, at least in the 2020 version which I read.
The pocket Constitution that I linked not only contains the Constitution, but also the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, along with some other fascinating information such as Benjamin Franklin’s No Tax Plan and How and Why Socialism is Unconstitutional. Even if you have skepticism for these documents or if you entirely disagree with them, I strongly recommend that you read them and then form your opinion about them, since they are foundational to the American way of life; the worst that can result from reading them is that you have a better understanding about why you disagree with them.
The reason I feel so strongly that every American should read the Constitution is that there are so often rumors or outright untruths that spread about the Constitution and the way that government is supposed to function, and once I read these documents, I finally understood what the United States stands for, how it functions, and in which ways it is currently overstepping. I firmly believe that there is much for you to learn from the Constitution that can provide you with a much more informed perspective if you simply read it just once.
If you have read this post to this point, then you have already dedicated about twice the amount of time reading this post than you would if you follow my reading plan that I provided. The Constitution is much more important than my blog, so please, at least consider investing into your knowledge about your very life as an American by reading the Constitution.
What was the best discovery that you noticed when reading the Constitution?
Onward American 