“We the People”:
An Online Constitutional Convention at Drexel
After a long summer in Philadelphia, delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 signed the nation’s charter on September 17th. Though nine states were required to ratify the new Constitution, a process that would take until June of 1788, September 17th is recognized and celebrated as “Constitution Day.”
The Constitution establishes both our governmental structure and expresses the values and aspirations that underlie those institutions. In the two hundred and twenty years since the Constitution was signed, it has evolved along with the nation. Beginning with the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments added immediately to ensure ratification, the Constitution has been amended a total of twenty-seven times to extend protections to individuals originally denied citizenship, expand the right to vote, end some practices such as slavery and establish others, such as prohibition of alcoholic beverages. These changes - some of them successful and lasting, others largely forgotten or abandoned - nevertheless reflect the principle that the Constitution is a document designed to reflect the changing needs of “we the people” who give our consent to be governed.
But does the Constitution meet our needs today? Our nation confronts issues the Framers could not have foreseen, including an incredibly diverse population, technology that poses both opportunities and new ethical questions, the global dimensions of trade, environment, war, and human rights, a shift in power from Congress to the President, and the rise of an increasingly powerful and policy-oriented judiciary. How might we create not only, as James Madison exhorted Convention delegates, “a Constitution for the ages,” but also a Constitution for our times?
Drexel invites all community members to participate in a “Constitutional Convention” to celebrate and challenge the Constitution as it currently exists. Beginning on Wednesday, September 17th, 2010, University community members are invited to discuss the Constitution and its meaning today; to celebrate its successes and propose solutions to its inadequacies.
Drexel's Online Constitutional Convention website provides resources including the text of the Constitution, readings and commentary, and opportunities to propose and discuss ideas for change. The site will grow and develop over the coming weeks, and we invite you to visit often to contribute to the debates that emerge. To visit the online Convention, click here.
We hope that these online discussions will encourage community members to think about and participate in this country’s ongoing experiment in democratic self-government. We invite students, staff, and faculty to think creatively and critically about how envisioning the Constitution differently might help us become a country that continues to reflect our best hopes and aspirations.
