A lot of people try to ramrod their political views into the Constitution. In the process, they twist the legal meaning of the document into something that was never intended. The only way to understand the Constitution is to read what the supporters said it meant during ratification. As Tomas Jefferson put it:
“On every question of construction let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or intended against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.”
For Further Reading
Two Big Mistakes When Reading the Constitution
Constitution 101: Living and Breathing Is the Same as Dead
Nine Reasons the “Living, Breathing” Constitution View Is a Lie
Early Americans Would Have Rejected the U.S. Government of Today
