Page 212 - Beers With Our Founding Fathers

Beers with our Founding Fathers

unconstitutional government – one that is not acting for the people

and by the people – and within the confines of the Constitution and
its history. As long as there are citizens there will be differences. As

long as there are citizens there will be a need for government. This
was first realized for the new colonies with the Mayflower Compact.

A government cannot go unchecked – and neither can any one
branch of our government. Our ability to petition each branch, and

use the powers of each branch to check the others – that is the
purpose of this right. It reminds our government that we are the

government and no one is above the law. Finally, the most powerful
act of petitioning a government is the empowerment given by the

right to a Constitutional Convention. In our Declaration of
Independence, Thomas Jefferson, his committee, and ultimately the

Continental Congress, provided for the ultimate act of petition and
redress, with, “That whenever any Form of Government becomes

destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to
abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on

such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them
shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

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