Second Best Oration: “Meaning of the Constitution” by James Tunnell, Jr.

The oration judged second best, “The Meaning of the Constitution Today,” as delivered by James M. Tunnell, Jr., follows:

The Oration

Nations, like ships, should follow a chartered course. Without charts, governments drift with every tide of opinion and change their course with each storm of protest. Without such guides, the will of the sovereign deflects the governmental craft from its course as steel turns the compass from the magnetic meridian.

The goal sought by the framers of the Constitution was maximum security consistent with personal liberty. No body of men ever faced a more stupendous task. Error then meant the loss of all advance made in America toward democratic government. Temptation to establish a monarchy was great. But individuality, training, environment—yea, inspiration—assured glorious achievement.

To assure the permanency of the new Government, they wrote with ink those immortal principles that had been indelibly engraved on the pages of history with the blood of martyrs. For these principles were not new. They were as old as human intelligence, human longing, human aspiration, and human suffering.

Having in mind the weaknesses of the Confederation, they sought to form “a more perfect union.” Driven into the wilderness by injustice, they longed to “establish justice.” Rent by quarrels and rebellions, they craved “domestic tranquillity.” Just emerged from bloody struggles—brothers and fathers slain by foreign bayonets, sisters and sweethearts scalped by savage foes—they determined “to provide for the common defense.” Weakened and impoverished, they were anxious to “promote the general welfare.”

“Blessings of Liberty”

Fearing persecution, they desired to “secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity.” These were the blessings sought by our ancestors. These are the blessings guaranteed to us by our Constitution. Having thus accomplished the purposes of its creators, it remains today the permanent will of the people—the supreme law of the land.

The framers, surveying the shortcomings and remembering the pitfalls of others, charted a governmental highway on the roadbed of human rights. They removed the crown of sovereignty from the polluted heads of kings and placed it upon the brow of a nation’s citizenry. They recognized sovereignty to be in the people, who ordained and established the Constitution itself. The provision for amendment again recognized the sovereignty of the people. This principle, first advanced in concrete form in the American Constitution, is the bulwark of liberty.

America today recognizes no other sovereign. American history, American ideals, and the American Constitution alike proclaim the sovereignty of the people. Today, our Constitution ensures this sovereignty.

Four foreign wars and a fratricidal struggle have brought its possibilities into clearer relief. Constructed in a nation’s infancy, it has met the requirements of the nation’s maturity. It provides the machinery of government in war and in peace. James Bryce says, “It is both brief and rigid, in that it lays down great and general principles, and names powers only; it is both extensive and flexible, in that it is open to interpretation to meet all the details of new conditions.”

This could have been accomplished only by recognition of the equality of individuals under the law. Federal and State courts stand ready to defend the rights and redress the wrongs of individuals. Citizens of each State were guaranteed equal rights, privileges, and immunities in all States. The framers of the Declaration of Independence asserted that “all men are created equal.” The framers of our Constitution proclaimed to a doubting world that this equality should continue through life.

Each principle of government resting on an inherent right of the individual stands on a foundation as firm as Gibraltar. After a test of seven score years, our Constitution still means equal rights to individuals. This principle serves as a beacon, attracting to the protection of the Stars and Stripes the persecuted of all lands. It has inspired struggling people from the Orient to the Occident; from the frozen North to the Southern seas.

Come for One Purpose

But what was the hope that drew the best blood and the stoutest hearts from the comforts and luxuries of European civilization to the hardships of an American wilderness? They came for one purpose. Quaker, Catholic, Hebrew, Pilgrim, and Huguenot buried their Old World hatreds in the free soil of America and wrote into our Constitution a guaranty of religious freedom.

Americans, our Constitution means religious freedom today. Let us retain that heritage. A jewel of such price should not be abandoned in a sea of indifference nor lost in a wilderness of mistaken ideas.

The framers of the Constitution, who reserved all powers to the people not expressly granted to the Government, placed not only the power of kings in American citizens, but also placed upon them the responsibilities of kings. The millions of our citizens who refuse to participate in the Government thereby abdicate their inherited throne and place over the graves of the heroes of Concord and Yorktown the mantle of indifference.

If sovereignty rests in the people, a part of the responsibility of ruling devolves on each citizen. Our Constitution means such responsibility today.

America, from her station of fundamental principles of government as embodied in our Constitution, is broadcasting a message of individual liberty coupled with national security. Mankind, with receivers in tune, is accepting that message, and everywhere despotism is fallen or tottering. Untold millions would rejoice to share the blessings of the Bill of Rights, to hold aloft the banner of personal and religious liberty, to enjoy with us equality under the law, and to share the responsibilities of a sovereign people.

These are our rights; these are our duties.

Americans, the flag, the Nation, the Constitution—the emblem, the craft, the God-given chart—they are yours, they are mine, they are ours.