We are a part of the greatest generation to have ever existed upon the earth. God has blessed us with strength and power to defeat the mightiest nation on earth. Now it is up to us to either establish a government that will stand for centuries, or crumble into oblivion. The Articles of Confederation do not give our young nation the power to defend our natural rights, which we are obligated to protect in order to have the liberty we fought for. Each state of our great nation must come together, or we will fall. This unification starts with a great leader. You know the indispensable man, even George Washington.
The man who crossed the Delaware, who defeated the unbeatable, conquered the unconquerable. He is the personification of the spirit of this great nation, and he believes in the unification of the states. You have the responsibility as a citizen of the United States to uphold the values you fought for in the revolution. Your children, grandchildren, and generations after will talk about how you fought to establish liberty during the revolution, but will they talk of how you lived for that liberty forever after? We have a responsibility to our children to be more than our forefathers.
We must not follow the cycle that has been viciously repeated since the dawn of mankind! We beat the tyrannical monster that held us bound, but now we have an even greater enemy: ourselves. You are endowed with the ability to choose, an agency that you will use for better or worse through your whole life. Mighty men have succumbed to the temptation that it is easier to give up, but as the world’s greatest generation, we must stand against the darkness and preserve our agency. There are three things we must defend at all costs. We must defend our right to our lives, our liberty, and our property. These rights are ours not because some men gave them to us, but because we are human.
We are equal, and through the establishment of a government that only has the power to protect our natural rights, we can spread that equality throughout a world full of disparity. Every person should have the opportunity to make of themselves what they are willing to work for. The United States of America can be the country where everyone who comes here has that chance. This can only happen if those already here are willing to inaugurate a government built for that purpose. For this government to exist, we need laws in place that will protect those rights. For centuries, our world has been plagued with institutions and individuals that have stripped others of their natural-born rights.
Tyranny occurred because the laws and other powers are unable to check these actions. They ruled by will; their desires and choices subjugated others. A government formed to provide liberty cannot tolerate rule of will. Do you remember the words, we the people? I do. Those words signify a bond that exceeds those of race, religion, creed, or any other temporary connection. We the people binds together all of humanity, regardless of any other difference. We have a duty to our fellow man to bring to pass a nation governed by a powerful force that has but one purpose; to protect the natural rights of all that reside here.
We have enjoyed much freedom since first coming to America, and we must not deny that much of that freedom existed before the revolution. We were content living under British rule, and we cannot forget that it was only after a denial of our representation that our opinion of them soured. We owe it to those who died in the revolution to aim for something better, not something less than what was. We claimed in the declaration of Independence that all men are created equal, endowed with rights that must not be infringed by anyone or any government. We must go farther, not only are we endowed with these rights, but with the responsibility to protect those rights, whatever it takes.
We have seen over the past seven years that the articles of confederation cannot protect those rights. This is leading to people taking problems into their own hands, like Daniel Shay. Without a stronger national government, our society will lead into anarchy, and situations like Shay's rebellion will become commonplace. The solution to integrating a national government that will not take away our freedoms lies in dividing power. As the various state representatives gathered to modify the articles of confederation, we realized that our nation needed more. The constitution we produced met that need. It establishes a system of government that limits its own power, checking each of its three branches for the sole purpose of keeping the balance squarely between anarchy and tyranny.
We are not ignorant towards the problems that occur when being ruled by human beings. As mortals, our knee-jerk reaction is to look out for our self-interest first, leaving all others as secondary. We have seen this time and again in the annals of history, those in power looking out for their self-interests first and leaving all others to suffer the consequences. The government that this constitution develops will pit power against power, forcing those in positions of authority to concede and find a middle ground, leading to a fair system for all. These democratically chosen positions of power enable citizens the right to hire or fire anyone who holds a seat in government. To elect a president, a system designated the electoral college gives each state a certain number of votes starting with two and increasing depending on the population. As a state with a larger population, we will have more votes than smaller states like Vermont or Georgia. Slaves were also considered when discussing how they counted towards population, and we decided that each slave counted as three fifths of a person, dampening the affect they would have on the southern state's population.