Remembering Summer Holidays

Remembering the reasons for Memorial Day & the 4th of July

Many of my childhood memories relate to Memorial Day and the 4th of July, but as a child I thought more about family dinners at the farm after we decorated family graves at the cemetery, and fireworks with my parents' friends, the Curtis family on the 4th of July, alternating which family hosted the celebration each year.  I am sure that my husband's time in the Air Force made me more aware of the reasons for those two holidays, but Law School certainly gave me a deeper respect for those that we honor and celebrate on those two summer holidays.  Our Constitution gradually became more and more important to me, motivating the books I have published and deepening my respect for those who wrote the Constitution and those who have preserved it.

I confess, I am one of those nerdy people that watches televised hearings and trials, and I may pay more attention to what is going on in Washington and state houses across the nation than most people do.  Currently, more seems to be happening than usual.  However, I am not only interested in current events, but also in history, from which we can learn a lot.  

Having just researched our revered Supreme Court Justice John Marshall, the 4th Chief Justice on the Supreme Court, I recalled one of his statements:  "What are the maxima of Democracy?  A strict observance of justice and public faith, and a steady adherence to virtue."  One of the things Marshall found so important in deciding cases, especially cases of great importance, was to arrive at a decision with a strong majority of the court in agreement.    A split of the justices' decisions leaves people less likely to accept the court's decision.  

When the American Constitution was drafted, it required the acceptance by the states.  A series of 85 essays by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay were published, initially printed on broadsheets to be distributed to help citizens better understand the constitution the Founding Fathers had written.  Today it can be found in book form, and many historians consider the essays as the third most important political document of our history, just behind the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

These documents have guided us for generations and have made us admired by other nations.  That is what I celebrate on the 4th of July.  The parades and fireworks are great, but if you happen to have a copy of the Constitution, you might consider reading it.  It really is what makes America remarkable, and perhaps right now all of us need to be reminded of how that old Constitution has protected and how it has kept us strong for so many years, not by changing it so much as by respecting those who protected and defended it.