The United States Constitution is a living Document

The Constitution of The United States is a living document. I believe it is because we can amend it. We have amended it 27 times. The first 10 amendments are known as our Bill of Rights, which are our basic rights as American citizens. This document started with no amendments, but our government has added them when the document needs to grow with society. The United States Constitution has been the Law of the Land since 1788 when it was adopted. In the Preamble of the constitution it states why it was written. These reasons include, to form a more perfect nion, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility. Since it has been in effect for over 200 years and has stood the test of time other countries have used our Constitution to base their countries constitutions on. I believe the truly genius thing about the constitution is the way it was written. Several phrases are written very loosely, and this has allowed us to make changes or amend it. That is why it is called a “living document”, because like a living changing person, this document can also live and change.

Over 200 years ago when this document was written, the framers could never have predicted what changes their future society would have. So by leaving phrases unclear it left this document open to interpretation. We are now able to reinterpret it and amend it if need be through the Supreme Court and House of Representatives. In the summer of 1787 when The Constitutional Convention was being conducted, these men would never know how in the future we would need to ensure that homosexuals would in the future be left out of constitutional rights.

Morally they would never be able to justify this concept. But today it is a very controversial issue. Homosexuals are not allowed in most states to marry. They will argue that it is unconstitutional, and that the 14th Amendment states that any person who is a U. S. citizen should not be deprived life, liberty, or property, and all citizens should have equal rights and equal protection of the law. The blacks went through this, they had to fight to be treated as equals and just like them the homosexuals of America are now taking their turn in reinterpreting this mendment . To deny them of their constitutional right is not what our Founding Fathers would have wanted. Another issue that is very controversial right now is gun control in The U. S. Some interpret the 2nd amendment states that all Americans have the right to own guns, and this should not be infringed. Others interpret this as meaning that the only people that should be able to own guns are the military to protect our country. This is a huge topic in America right now because of many violent acts that have happened with guns.

Due to these violent acts, we as Americans should consider there are some flaws in controlling who can own a gun. Our President Barack Obama and his administration wish to fix loopholes in the required background checks for buying and owning a firearm. In doing so they hope that guns will not fall into the hands of anyone who has a criminal history, or has a mental illness. They also wish to ban military style assault weapons for civilians. Basically the debate on either side of these issues proves that The United States Constitution is in fact a living document.

To state that it is a dead document is to imply that we should abandon this document. That idea in itself is treasonous. To abandon this document would cause a huge uproar in our country, and delete so many vital parts of American history. Since we can obviously add to this document and make changes to it we need to continue doing exactly what we are doing. Before we had this document our country was in complete disunion between states, and our government was very weak. Our country did not run well without this document, and it wouldn’t if we decided to consider it a dead ocument. Americans have lived with this document being the law of our land, and have grown used to the way things are. If we can make what has worked in the past continue to work then why change that. In any event we as society look to the Constitution to tell us what our founding fathers wanted this country to be. This document is what America was built on and will continue to grow on. And that is why after over 200 years The United Sates Constitution is still a living document that we should never wish to abandon.

Work Cited by :

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/news/050801a.aspx
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/anson-kaye/2013/04/25/the-rights-constitutional-hypocrisy-on-the-2nd-and-4th-amendments
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57576700/obama-same-sex-marriage-constitutional-but-an-issue-for-the-states/