On the recordSeptember 15, 2011
On the 17th of September in 1787, the United States Constitution was ratified. Senator Byrd in the year 2005 introduced the House-passed Constitution Day. So, this weekend, we'll be celebrating Constitution Day. When I think of the Constitution, I think of Dr. Martin Luther King and the right to peacefully assemble, which is enshrined in the First Amendment. That meant he could go to Selma, that he could come to Washington and fight for civil rights and secure those rights for the people of this Nation. I also think of women's rights embodied in the 19th Amendment. Women were given the right to vote--Tennessee being the perfect 36th State to give women that right to vote. I think of a woman's right to choose, which is given through the Constitution and the Bill of Rights--in the Ninth Amendment, the Fourth and through the First and Third as well. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. The Constitution embodies the fundamental values of this Nation: freedom, fairness, justice, and equality. We haven't always lived up to the Constitution's ideals; but with the rights it guarantees and the freedoms it protects, we can continue to move forward and be the more perfect Union that it promises. ____________________
