A constitution is defined as a document that outlines the basic structure of a government, defining the boundaries the government must operate within and what duties it must perform. The U.S. Constitution, ratified on September 17, 1787, is the oldest written constitution for a country that is still in use today. The Constitution is a study in compromise, as the founding fathers had to balance the needs of small states and big, slave states and free, and state power versus the need for a federal government. However, one of the sticking points for many was the lack of a guarantee of rights for the citizens of America. After all, they had just finished fighting a war against a government that ran rough shod over them. Thus, the first ten amendments of the Constitution were passed, ensuring the civil rights of all Americans.

Or did they? In spite of the passing of the Bill of Rights and of the high ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence, all Americans were not considered equal. Women had few rights, and black people had even fewer. Millions of black slaves were literally owned by other human beings, and treated as if they were cattle. As America grew and developed, slavery continued to be a tremendous issue of contention as the movement to do away with slavery swelled. The southern slave states, determined to hang on to their way of life, defended their right to keep their slaves, citing state sovereignty. The result was a bitter and bloody Civil War.

After the South was defeated in 1865, the Congress moved to address the issue of the slaves with three amendments, now referred to as the “Reconstruction Amendments.” In the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln had declared the end of slavery in the rebel states, but until the end of the war, it could not be enforced. Once Lee surrendered, the task of rebuilding a new South began. The 13thAmendment, which was passed in December of 1865, officially put an end to the institution of slavery in the United States, even for states that had not left the Union. However, this didn’t address the status of the people who were no longer slaves. If they weren’t slaves, what were they? How were they to be treated?

Thus the 14th Amendment was drawn up to address what rights African Americans would have. In essence, the 14th Amendment guarantees all people, no matter their race, the same treatment by the government. This has since been called the Equal Protection clause. The 14th Amendment guarantees that due process applies to everyone of all races and colors, making it illegal to deny anyone their rights without going through proper procedures. For example, this means that African Americans could not be arrested or searched without a warrant.

While most of these provisions had been part of a Civil Rights Law passed in 1866, laws of Congress can easily be repealed. An amendment to the Constitution is much harder to overturn. Thus the 14th Amendment was meant to seal these rights for good. In addition to being passed by Congress, an amendment must also be ratified three-fourths of the state legislatures. Of course, most of the southern states did not pass this amendment, but there were enough states without them to ratify it anyway. It become law in 1868. The final Reconstruction Amendment, the 15th, was passed in 1870, guaranteeing the right to vote for people of any color or race.

On paper, the status of African Americans should have been equal in all ways to white Americans; the reality was that they weren’t treated that way, especially in the South. Once the southern states had control of their governments back after reconstruction, they began instituting a series of laws that eroded these rights. Poll taxes and requirements to own land were used to keep black voters away from the polls. Public places were segregated, so that blacks had their own stores, churches, restrooms, schools, and had to use the backs of restaurants. These became known as the Jim Crow laws.

The cause of equality for African Americans was not an issue on the national stage anymore. People in the North for the most part left the South alone to deal with the issue, since that’s where the vast majority of African Americans lived. Even the military was a segregated organization. In fact, the Supreme Court made a series of rulings which established a “separate but equal” policy that the South operated under for years. States were considered to be fulfilling the 14th Amendment even when the races were separated as long as the facilities for both were “equal.” Of course, in reality they never were equal.

It wasn’t until the 1950s and 1960s when another movement, as powerful as the abolition movement of a hundred years earlier, brought national attention and pressure to change the second-rate status too many Americans had been living in. The groundwork was actually laid in 1925 when the Supreme Court ruled that the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments of the U.S. Constitution, applied to the states as well as the federal governemnt. This allowed civil rights leaders to argue that the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed equal protection and treatment under the law, applied to the states as well.

Finally, in 1954, the Supreme Court reversed the “separate but equal” policy in its ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education. This ruling, which declared that separate schools for black children violated the 14th Amendment, was the legal catalyst for change throughout America. The Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment was cited again and again as the Jim Crow laws were struck down all over the country. Eventually federal laws were also enacted to help insure the rights and freedoms that were originally intended by the authors of the 14th Amendment.

One of the strengths of the U.S. Constitution is its flexibility. While only 27 amendments have been passed in the history of the U.S., the fact that the founding fathers recognized the need for the Constitution to have the ability to adapt is a testimony to their wisdom. The Reconstruction Amendments, specifically the 14th, were instrumental in fulfilling the promise of equality that the Constitution claimed was due to all citizens. While true equality was not achieved overnight, the guarantees of the 14th Amendment were the foundation for a truly free America.

Representative Mike Kelly represented all Americans as he confronted outgoing IRS Commissioner Miller in the House Ways and Means hearing this morning.  

In fact, he received a standing ovation after he said the things so many of us have been thinking and feeling.

Is there any limit to what the IRS can do? 


 

Every time a child is born, so is a mother.  

An eternal bond is formed.  

As you grow, your mother is there.  

There to tuck you in, to cheer you up.  

There to teach.  There to send you off and to listen when you call.  

There to encourage you as you explore, create, and dance the night away.  

There to encourage, to build faith.  

There by your side, when others have left you.  

There in good times and hard times.  There in the details of daily life.  

Life doesn't come with a manual, it comes with a Mother.

This Mother's Day thank the women who have loved, mentored, and mothered you.

Full of ordinary moments made memorable by a mother's love, this is a beautiful tribute Calee Reed made for her mom who died of cancer. 

Life and love are great gifts that moms can share with children.  If we do our best, these gifts will become part of a treasured heritage long after we are gone.

This will inspire you and touch your heart!  

Ann and Mitt Romney have raised a loving family with five capable, caring sons.  

In this video Ann shares a few of her experiences and insights on being a mother.  Hope you enjoy! 

"The time to guard against corruption and tyranny, is before they shall have gotten hold on us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered." --Thomas Jefferson (1781)

In commencement remarks to graduates sparsely convened in the Ohio State University football stadium in Columbus last weekend, Barack Hussein Obama offered the following observations and advice:

"Unfortunately, you've grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that's at the root of all our problems; some of these same voices also doing their best to gum up the works. They'll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave and creative and unique experiment in self-rule is somehow just a sham with which we can't be trusted. We don't think the government is the source of all our problems ... we understand that this democracy is ours. And as citizens, we understand that it's not about what America can do for us, it's about what can be done by us, together, through the hard and frustrating but absolutely necessary work of self-government. And class of 2013, you have to be involved in that process."

Clearly, Obama's absurd and overtly partisan assertions were aimed at young constituents whom he hopes embody the future of his Socialist Democratic Party. After all, an effective speechmaker knows his audience, and Obama knows that most of these youthful citizens are indoctrinated in government institutions since they were weaned.

Indeed, the socialist protagonist, Karl Marx, wrote, "The education of all children, from the moment that they can get along without a mother's care, shall be in state institutions at state expense." Marx's disciple, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, concurred: "Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted."

From the days of Woodrow Wilson to those of Barack Obama, and encompassing all the "progressives" in between, taxpayer-funded academic institutions have been the breeding ground for generations of socialists. For most leftists, the crucial years that cemented their worldview were the ones they spent in our nation's colleges and universities.

Americans care about what happened in Benghazi.  

We want to know why four courageous Americans lost their lives so we can learn from our mistakes and avoid them in the future.

We want to know why the personnel in Benghazi were denied the support and security they requested.  We need to hold anyone who was negligent responsible.

The president and his administration fabricated an explanation that is totally disconnected from the facts.  We need to know why.

The live feed from YouTube is proving unreliable.  If it's not working, you can watch on C-SPAN.


  

 "Promise me that you won’t think of Chris solely as a hero. He wouldn’t want that. 

"Instead, I ask you to see him the way he would’ve wanted you to see him. As just an everyday boy who did his best at what he loved, growing into an everyday man, loving his God, loving his country…and loving his family."

Chris Kyle's wife, Taya, gave a wonderful message at the NRA event this week.

Chris was killed in February when he was shot by a veteran who was going through a tough time.  Chris devoted himself to trying to help soldiers heal from emotional or physical wounds they received while serving in the military.  

Chris Kyle truly loved and cared for his brothers in the military and gave his life to help them.

Picture Courtesy of The Patriot Post (PatriotPost.US) 

The work and accomplishments of John Adams, though pivotal for the United States of America, are not always understood and appreciated. 

This video shows the key role he played in creating support for the Declaration of Independence.

As Patriotic Moms, are we preparing young patriots who will be able to  eloquently defend liberty in America?

“Objects of the most stupendous magnitude. Mirrors which will effect the lives of millions, born and unborn are now before us. We must expect a great expense of blood and pain, but we must always remember that a free constitution of civil government can not be purchased at too dear a rate as there is nothing on this side of Jerusalem of greater importance to mankind.

"My worthy colleague from Pennsylvania, has spoken with great ingenuity and eloquence. He has given you a grim prognostication of our national future, but where he foresees apocalypse, I see hope. I see a new nation ready to take its place in the world, not an empire, but a republic and a republic of laws, not men. Gentlemen, we are in the very midst of revolution, the most complete, unexpected and remarkable in the history of the world.

"How few of the human race have every had an opportunity of choosing a system of government for themselves and for their children?

"I am not without apprehensions gentlemen, but the end we have in sight is more than worth all the means. My believe says that the hour has come, my judgment approves this measure and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, all that I am and all I that I hope in this life I am now ready to stake upon it.

"While I live, let me have a country. A free country!”

~John Adams

This wonderful, uplifting video is perfect to watch together with your family.  It talks about some of the great people and events that are part of our American heritage.  

After the video might be a good time to talk about what your family can do for America.  Each family can make a difference in its own unique way. 

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