As we all know, Constitution Day was last month. Okay, I have to make a confession here; I didn’t really know that. I wouldn’t have even noticed it were it not for a great article in my local newspaper, telling all about the Constitution and the men who brought it to pass.
As a brief rundown of the history: 16th century Europe is responsible for planting the seeds of the American Revolution. It was a time of great upheaval of traditional knowledge. Copernicus shattered the illusion of the heavens and presented his theory, and Martin Luther broke from the Catholic church, which started the Reformation. John Calvin started another wave of reform. Archbishop William Laud said he would “harry them out of the land.”
Then of course we had the pilgrims and their quest for religious freedom. They started colonies, but they were still subjects to England. We know the story of the Boston Tea Party, where members of the Sons of Liberty demonstrated how they felt about England’s rule by throwing hundreds of crates of tea into Boston Harbor, resenting the high taxes they were being forced to pay for such items. Thomas Paine wrote, printed and distributed pamphlets that fanned the cause of liberty and kept hope alive in the hearts of the colonists.
As the revolution drew to a close and America gained her freedom, it became very obvious that a declaration needed to be drawn up, a statement that would explain what America was all about. Tradition has it that the declaration was written by Thomas Jefferson, and indeed it was, but others contributed to it as well: Richard Henry Lee and George Mason, with influence from John Locke and Jean-Jacque Rousseau. A truly beautiful document, it is the embodiment of all our founding fathers dreamed of for this great nation.
And now for the shout-out to Utah residents: Through November 30, you can make an appointment to go to the Crandall Historical Printing Museum at 275 E. Center Street, in Provo, and see their Franklin press, which is a replica of the press used to print the Declaration. They will print off one copy of the Declaration for every group that goes through (just one copy) for the cost of a dollar. If you call and make a reservation, you can take your family, your school class, whatever group you like, to see the press and how it is run. The number to call is (801) 377-7777. What a great field trip for a homeschooling family, or for any family.
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