 |
A new view of the U.S. Constitution
by Caroline Friedman and Sonia Trehan, Class 11
Classes 7 and 11 spent the last few weeks studying a document we have all come to revere: the Constitution. We flipped through our textbooks, remarking on the genius behind the separation of powers and the design of the three branches. We debated, asking question after question. Along with the document, we became familiar with a string of names: Hamilton, Madison, Franklin, Morris. They were all present at the Constitutional Convention, the movers and shakers who shaped the country we live in today.
Though interesting, our main incentive for learning these facts was “Test: Constitution,” as written on our syllabus. But our teachers had a hidden surprise for us, and it came in the disguise of an evening lecture. They told us it was mandatory that we attend, eliciting deep groans as we thought of cancelled appointments and essays due the next day. A lecture did not seem a favorable use of our time.
Dutiful students that we are, however, we arrived at the Assembly Room on Thursday, October 11, to discover it filled with a more diverse audience than anyone had expected. The elevens wondered why the room was filled with seventh graders and their parents. We had thought this lecture was intended for us, as students of Advanced Placement U.S. history. The sevens, as well as some alumnae, Class 12 girls and faculty members, looked upon us with the same sort of curiosity.
The evening began as Ms. Pergam, the director of studies, introduced our speaker: Carol Berkin, a history professor at Baruch College and renowned historian. Professor Berkin, known for her many publications, received her bachelor’s degree from Barnard College and her master’s and doctorate from Columbia University, where she won the Bancroft Dissertation Award.
Professor Berkin started by touching on some of our modern myths. She spoke about the pervasive belief that the founding fathers were “demigods” and the Constitution a perfect document with a clear purpose. She dispelled such convictions by telling us, “This couldn’t be farther from the truth.” The truth, as she revealed, is more colorful than this painfully flawless description.
The men at the Constitutional Convention were incredible thinkers, but some were also compulsive flirts, alcoholics and, as Professor Berkin described James Madison, for one, curmudgeons. This varied group of men, with their vastly divergent beliefs and interests, came together with one purpose: to enhance the government that America already had under the Articles of Confederation. But their ideas, desires and fears led them to not only change the government, but to create a new one through the Constitution: a document that reflected their contrasting ideas of the best possible relationship between the federal and state governments. Forced to compromise, the outcome was an intricate system of checks and balances, a careful balance of power. The framers, who said they would be happy if the Constitution lasted 10 years, had created an everlasting document, a document that would dramatically influence history to follow.
Though some of us had entered the Assembly Room begrudgingly, students, parents and teachers alike exited with a fresh understanding of the Constitution. We now viewed the Constitution as a political entity as well as a personal expression of the spirit of its framers. The Constitution was not written by demigods but by real men who did not know what they would achieve — which makes the achievement even greater.
|
 |
