We the People
What does "We the People" mean? To whom does it refer?
One historico-cynical interpretation is that "We the People" refers to that group of people who actually wrote the Constitution and the other men of their class -- in other words, white, land-owning, free males, most likely of English descent.
But the Constitution itself does little to suggest that this is whom "We the People" means. Its language is general enough, or ambiguous enough, that the phrase suggests the broader class of people encompassed by the word citizens. Under this interpretation, one did not have to be a member of the gentry, that class to which most of the members of the Constitution belonged.
An even more restrictive interpretation, with even more interesting results is the interpretation that "We the People" meant only the people who signed the Constitution.
If this was truly the case, then when the last signer of the Constitution died, the Constitution itself lost its significance, and therefore, there was no longer a United States of America. This would mean that whatever government we now have is completely illegitimate. We have been traveling along for the last 200 year or so on a fiction, since the country had ceased to exist upon the death of the last signator.
And if this is the case, then whatever George Bush might wish to do does not exist under any law and is therefore neither "legal" or "illegal".
One historico-cynical interpretation is that "We the People" refers to that group of people who actually wrote the Constitution and the other men of their class -- in other words, white, land-owning, free males, most likely of English descent.
But the Constitution itself does little to suggest that this is whom "We the People" means. Its language is general enough, or ambiguous enough, that the phrase suggests the broader class of people encompassed by the word citizens. Under this interpretation, one did not have to be a member of the gentry, that class to which most of the members of the Constitution belonged.
An even more restrictive interpretation, with even more interesting results is the interpretation that "We the People" meant only the people who signed the Constitution.
If this was truly the case, then when the last signer of the Constitution died, the Constitution itself lost its significance, and therefore, there was no longer a United States of America. This would mean that whatever government we now have is completely illegitimate. We have been traveling along for the last 200 year or so on a fiction, since the country had ceased to exist upon the death of the last signator.
And if this is the case, then whatever George Bush might wish to do does not exist under any law and is therefore neither "legal" or "illegal".
posted by Godel at 5:49 PM
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