Published: February 17, 2006 05:15 pm      

The words we live by

JOHNSTOWN — Many view July 4, 1776, as the date this country was born. That was indeed an important date, when the great Declaration of Independence publicly severed our ties with England.

The Revolutionary War that ensued was our payment for this independence, a price well worth it. But even when we finally defeated England years later, we were merely a collection of states, rife with differences that could have – some say would have – torn us apart. The Civil War proved this.

This country, the United States of America, wasn’t really born until 1789, when the U.S. Constitution was debated in Philadelphia, and in pubs throughout the newly freed colonies, and eventually ratified by the states.

This document, which is the foundation of our Republic, endures today.

Officeholders swear by it, literally, and promise to uphold it. And yet, few really understand it, let alone live by it.

So The Tribune-Democrat, over the course of the next few Sundays, will publish the U.S. Constitution, unedited and in all its glory, for all to read, and hopefully take to heart.

We believe this public service will help you once again renew your understanding of this great document, and if you have never read it, this will give you a great opportunity to do so.

For just as the inscription on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia reads, “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land, and unto all the inhabitants there of,” we believe we cannot preserve liberty without understanding its roots.

Those roots are planted in the Constitution.