How did you spend Constitution Day on Sept. 17? At our house, we started with a family tradition—reading the Constitution aloud. Yes, the whole thing. And it only takes about half an hour to cover all seven articles and the Bill of Rights.
Most people don’t like this idea—it sounds like a job for a lawyer. But here’s the secret: The Founders wrote this document for everyone, not just the legal experts. They wanted you, me, and your next-door neighbor to know exactly what was in it.
Reflecting on that very challenge, Thomas Jefferson wrote that “laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense.” (1823 Letter to William Johnson)
John Adams expressed the same, writing in 1765 that American settlers “knew government was a plain, simple, intelligible thing, founded in nature and reason, and quite comprehensible by common sense.” (A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law)
So there it is. They wrote the Constitution plain and simple for you and me.
But what gives these 4,379 words such power and control to provoke our interest and stir our sense of duty?
It’s about survival—how to live together without tearing each other apart. Long before Plymouth or Jamestown or Christopher Columbus, human history had been a long, difficult, and sometimes tragic struggle by our fellow human beings scavenging and fighting over the basics such as food, shelter, and control—interspersed with occasional periods of order and peace. When the framers penned this document, they weren’t just creating a framework for fair and just laws; they were proposing a new way of life that stopped the constant fighting. They worked intentionally to start an era of growth and prosperity.
Their goals were clearly stated in the Preamble. Looking around today, do you think they achieved them? “We the People,” they said, hereby establish this Constitution to form a more perfect union with justice, domestic tranquility, a common defense, and to promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to try to make life better for everyone.
James Madison, often called the “Father of the Constitution,” saw the problem with prior governments that had plagued humanity from the start: “In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” (Federalist No. 51)
George Washington knew the only way to maintain that balance in government was to encourage vigorous knowledge among the people about how this system of government worked: “Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.” (Farewell Address)
Knowledge and enlightened—that was Washington’s way of saying that if we’re in the dark about how to proceed to correct national troubles, turn to knowledge whereby we can become enlightened.
Today, when we see debates raging over executive power, states battling for their rights, or parents looking to preserve their family values, it’s clear that many of our national challenges could benefit from a healthy dose of constitutional wisdom. Reading and understanding the Constitution isn’t just an academic exercise—it’s a way to keep our politicians in check and ensure that our rights aren’t trampled on. Have our leaders strayed? Then it’s time to replace them with people who understand the rules.
But we can’t know any of that if we’re not reading the instruction manual, the code of conduct, the operating instructions, the reference manual, and the job descriptions as outlined in our U.S. Constitution.
So why read the Constitution every Sept. 17? Simple. We read it to stay free.