A Tough Leap: The Birth of the U.S. Constitution and Our Reflections

Author: Yi Zhongtian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: The United States is indeed a unique country. It did not establish a constitution after gaining national power but rather created one before building the nation (first drafting and ratifying the constitution, then establishing the state system based on it). At the very least, the constitutional process and the process of building the nation occurred simultaneously—the process of drafting the constitution was also the process of building the nation. The Constitution drafted at the 1787 Philadelphia Convention is the world's first written constitution, containing a brilliant design. It was this design that created a system that was both democratic and republican, fully embodying the spirit of constitutionalism and the rule of law, and enabled this young nation to rise from the wilderness and quickly become a superpower, perhaps one you may not like but cannot afford to overlook. Although the debates at the time were intense and the process incredibly challenging to believe, such a brilliant design created by a group of backwoods settlers on the wild continent over two hundred years ago is truly astonishing. Even with the simple American bottom line, just a few words like "the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."