Happy Constitution Day (to Those Who Celebrate)

September 17 marks Constitution Day, the date in 1787 when the Framers of the U.S. Constitution signed the document and sent it for ratification to the thirteen states.

The importance of Constitution Day is on the minds of many Americans in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk one week before, as he was demonstrating the exercise of the First Amendment, debating in front of an audience of college students before he was gunned down by a murderer who hated his views.

Rep. Mike Flood (R-NE) said on the floor of the House of Representatives on Tuesday:

Regardless of politics, Americans don’t want a country where people are shot for their views.

Freedom of speech is under serious threat. From gender ideology to race, the far left has weaponized political correctness, punishing dissenters with social and professional consequences.

If we want the First Amendment to survive this moment, we must restore respect for the rule of law and confront the factors fueling division.

Charlie Kirk was reaching out to the other side when he died, and to honor his legacy, we should do the same.

The First Amendment was not actually part of the original Constitution, but was part of the Bill of Rights, whose passage was crucial to winning support for the Constitution’s ratification.

The idea for a list of rights to accompany the Constitution emerged from debates between the Federalists, who supported the Constitution, and the Anti-Federalists, led by George Mason, who opposed it.

The fact that a reasoned debate led to a better outcome has been noted as a prime example of the power and importance of free speech and tolerance for difference.

The Bill of Rights would not be proposed until two years after the Constitution was written, when the first Congress approved the first twelve amendments. Only ten would be ratified by three-fourths of the states, and were formally adopted on December 15, 1791.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.