By Rob Metzler
Buffalo
State College honored Constitution Day on Sept. 15 by holding
a panel discussion on the document’s history, roots
and background.
The
discussion, which was hosted by history
department professors Gary Marotta, David Carson and
Buffalo Common Council Member Joseph
Golombek Jr., focused on three different aspects of
the Constitution: its creation, where the creators got
their ideas, and how it applies to Buffalo today.
Carson, who started the discussion,
stated: “…all
institutions that receive federal funds have to celebrate
the constitution, which in itself is unconstitutional,” which
set the tone for the spirited look into the details of
the roots of the countries charter.
He described the make-up of the convention in Philadelphia
during 1787, calling the founding fathers the elite
of the new America, calling them “well bread,
well wed, well read and well feed.” Carson brought
up information about the delegates, saying that “George
Washington was there against his will” and
citing the fact that Thomas Jefferson was
not there.
Marotta spoke to of the Constitution’s Aristotelian
roots to the effect that the framer’s recognized
that the circular nature of government would have to be
addressed.
He called the Constitution a “work of genius” in
that it incorporated the need for individual involvement
in the system yet still concentrated power enough to rule
efficiently.
He also feels that the document
has been used as a measuring stick for every issue brought
up in our country, and only once, in the case of slavery,
was unable to resolve the debate. He cited Plato as the
source for our judiciary system, and questioned the ideas
of judging moral issues such as abortion on a legal document
Wrapping up the conference, Golombek spoke of how the
issues in the Constitution have affected the city. His
examples included:
Janet Kaye, professor of communications
at BSC, attended the conference, and stated: “The speakers did a terrific
job of presenting the history of our democracy and of demonstrating
how important our understanding that history is to the
preservation of our democracy.”
Rob Metzler can be reached at Metzrj68@mail.buffalostate.edu
|
