Article by Rex E. Lee
Two hundred years ago this September, forty men met in Philadelphia and signed a document that has proven to be the world's most successful written constitution. It was also the first. One of several remarkable things about that Constitution is that over the intervening 200 years, its provisions have not changed very much, particularly in comparison to the social, economic, political, technological, and other changes that have occurred in the nation for which it serves as the ultimate source of law. Indeed, only twice in the two centuries between 1787 and 1987 have additions been made that are comparable in importance to some of the original provisions. The first was the adoption of the first ten amendments in 1791. The second occurred in the wake of the Civil War, with the addition of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments.
The dominant characteristic common to virtually all of the important features of the Constitution is the magnificent generality of its most important provisions. Quite clearly, it is this generality which has enabled the same Constitution with the same language to survive across two centuries of the largest changes that this world has ever seen.
About the Author
Rex E. Lee. George Sutherland Professor of Law, Brigham Young University, J. Reuben Clark Law School; Partner, Sidley & Austin, Washington, D.C.; B.A., Brigham Young University 1960; J.D., University of Chicago 1963; Solicitor General of the United States 1981-85; U.S. Assistant Attorney General 1975-77.
Citation
61 Tul. L. Rev. 1009 (1987)