Recently, I delivered a public lecture about our founding principles and our founding document, the United States Constitution. The idea was to demonstrate that Americans have a variety of levels of understanding about the document and that, while a deep understanding of our founding is desirable, the average citizen knows what they know and that is just fine. In fact, a citizen does not need to be a scholar to understand key ideas such as liberty, freedom and justice.
I began the lecture by reading the Declaration of Independence and asking the audience members to quietly stand as soon as they recognized what they were hearing. I began, “When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
As I read the first paragraph, one person stood quickly and after a few more words some more students stood, as well. Of the 40 people in attendance, only five or six stood by the end of the first paragraph. However, as I began reading the second and more famous paragraph, many more people stood. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Once most of the audience were standing, I stopped reading and asked the first person to identify the passage. His answer, “That is from the preamble to the Constitution of the United States.”
The student who stood second quickly stated, “No, that’s the Declaration of Independence.”
I gave them both pocket copies of the Constitution as a reward for their participation. They were both operating within their own levels of understanding. One made a quick response to old memories and the student probably just had this on an exam. Again, both had a level of understanding and more importantly, an interest in knowing about our history.
Now, I told you that story so I could tell you this one. It is true and possibly funny. So, relax, this civics lesson may not be overly boring.
A few years back, I was invited to visit and study at Montpelier, the home of James Madison who was the primary author of many parts of the Constitution. Several other professors and I were traveling on the same airplane from Detroit to Virginia. Traveling with us was John Kaminski who is a constitutional scholar and who was leading the program.
Kaminski is the director of the Center for the Study of the American Constitution at the University of Wisconsin. His center houses approximately 60,000 documents about the American founding and the framers. I thought I knew a lot until I met him. Talk about different levels of understanding.
This was a small plane with about 40 seats, two on one side of the aisle and one on the other. Dr. Kaminski is a big man and was sitting on the side with one set and I was one row back on the opposite side.
About half-way through the flight, the attendant stopped near me and asked me why six people on the plane were reading the same book? The book was a small one meant to introduce readers to Madison without being too overwhelming. The title is “James Madison: Champion of Liberty and Justice.” The author’s name, John P. Kaminski.
I told the young woman that we were all going to the same event to study and that we were all reading the same book so that we were ready. I then said, “The author is sitting right there,” pointing to the big man sitting one row up and to my left. She looked again at the cover, set down my cup of water and moved on.
Her next stop was to Kaminski’s row where she promptly leaned down and said to him, “So, you’re James Madison.” I thought the level of his laughter combined with his size might actually cause the plane to tip over.
Speaking of levels of understanding. Hers was different than mine, and mine is different from Dr. Kaminski’s; we all have some knowledge.
The point is that we all should engage from whatever level we understand and that we listen and learn from others no matter their level of understanding. The Constitution is the result of many difficult compromises over time. We should trust the processes and stay involved regardless of our level of understanding.
Civic virtue is free.
Dr. Michael Anderson is the new director of clinical experience and associate professor of education at Bemidji State University.