37
may be reassumed by the people whensoever it shall
become
necessary
Elliot’s,
ed.
conventions
to
The
on
their
Debates
the
happiness.
in
the
adoption
of
(Jonathan
several
the
state
Federal
Constitution (1888)).
These
assorted
speeches,
essays,
and
ratification texts emphasizing the ‘popular rights’
that
‘the
‘resume’,
Congress
people’
and
had
‘retain’
‘resume’
centrally
and
‘reserve’
exemplified
in
mind
in
what
1789
and
the
may
First
when
it
proposed certain amendments as part of a general bill
of
rights.
(The
Bill
of
Rights;
Creation
and
perspective,
the
Reconstruction).
From
a
twenty-first-century
idea that the constitution was truly established by
‘the people’ might seem a bad joke. What about slaves
and freeborn women? Later generations of the American
people had surged through the Preamble’s portal and
widened its gate. Like constitution, amendments are
not just words but deeds-flesh-and-blood struggles to
redeem America’s promise while making amends for some
of the sins of Founders. In both words and deeds,