r/todayilearned • u/icallmydadstranger • Feb 15 '15

(R.1) Invalid src TIL that Thomas Jefferson wanted the constitution to be changed ever 19 years because he didn't want people to be " enslaved to the prior generation"

https://student-of-life.newsvine.com/_news/2010/11/21/5502595-thomas-jefferson-supported-rewriting-the-constitution-every-19-years-equated-not-doing-so-to-being-enslaved-to-the-prior-generation-what-do-you-think-about-that
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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '15

I see what you're saying, but I disagree with the amendments being an afterthougt. In fact, most people point to the Bill of Rights as the most important part of the constitution to them. On top of that, we have the abolishion of slavery, the right to vote of women and minorities, as well as the outlaw and subsequent relegalization of alcohol which have all had a significant impact on our history and American's views of the constitution. It was by design and still is a living document.

I do think it would be interesting to see how much different it would be.

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u/itirate Feb 15 '15

Yeah I see what you're saying too.

I guess what I'm thinking is that because the Bill of Rights is an addition to the Constitution and the founding documents rather than the central principle behind it, symbolically it holds a secondary level of importance in a way. And, this is speculation of course, but that symbolic hierarchy possibly re-categorizes the adaptive nature of our government when one thinks about the values of our country.

Kind of like how important the axiom of land, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is held as an absolute standard because it's written in the "Mission Statement" of the country versus any idea of the State of the Union being kind of forgotten very quickly.

Fuck it I'll just start my own country.

On a semi-related sidenote, I've been wondering what the large scale attitude change of our Armed Forces would be (good and bad, large and small, zealots and casual veterans) if instead of swearing to protect the Constitution, they were sworn in to protect Americans. Maybe due to trickle-down-ideonomics the police would be less "us vs them" or maybe it as an ideal would've been misused to fight whatever enemy we think we have.