Why do so many Americans think they know what the founding fathers meant in the constitution, when those folks have been dead for about 200 years?
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Grandma Roses - my avatar is my real dog
ANSWERS: 1
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While they have been dead for a couple of centuries, they left a lot of writings, and those writings have been carried forward and commented upon in an almost Talmudic fashion since the Constitution was written. The question is generally not what the founding fathers meant, but rather what weight should we give to their exact words vs. the meaning of those words. As in all legislated documents, the constitution represents a compromise, with wording that at times is exact, and at times more vague. The best example is the 1st Amendment, in which the "CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW REGARDING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION OR THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF" statement has been expanded to include the states. Many of the representatives in that era thought this also applied to the states, but others did not. Its duplicity in interpretation leaves us to create the best interpretation for our own age, with it unlikely that any one particular side will carry the day entirely nor silence 100% of its critics.
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