Today is Constitution Day, where we celebrate the signing of
our Constitution. But how much do we
know about its origins? Our Founding
Fathers didn’t just “wing it.” They knew
their British history. Our Declaration
of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights have their genealogies in five
British historical documents. Do you
know what they are? I didn’t before
yesterday. They are:
1.
1000 Charter of Liberties
2.
The Magna Carta of 1215
3.
Petition of Right 1628
4.
Great Remonstrance of 1641
5.
English Bill of Rights of 1689
Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat its
mistakes.
On July 4, this year, I reread the Declaration ofIndependence. I was stuck at the
similarities between their grievances against Britain in 1776 and what we are
facing today. What I learned yesterday
is that they weren’t new in 1776; they were grievances back from all the way to
the British Aisles of 1066.
I highly recommend KrisAnne Hall’s book Not a Living Breathing Document: Reclaiming our Constitution: An Introduction to the Historic Foundations of American Liberty. I started reading it last
night and am looking forward to what I will learn from it.