Divine Inspiration - The Constituion

    The longest standing constitution of our day was written be men over two hundred years ago. It stands as the highest law of our country, and the process of adding too, and amending pieces of the constitution has contributed to it's utility though modification. The fundamental principals of it however, remain similar to if not exactly the same as the original document.

Means and Action

   Members of the continental congress were educated, and many knew of and expounded on the principles of John Locke, in that men not only had the right to rebel, but a duty if the situation required it. Samuel Adams took the argument further when he published pamphlets about divinely given or natural rights. 

   He expressed to the colonists that their rights were given to them by God, and not my a Monarch, whether he claimed divine appointment or not. Not fearing the power of the colonial authorities he was offending, Sam Adams inspiration convinced the colonists that they were above the tyrannical law when resisting the acts of the British Parliament. He had the means through his word craft and publishing, and acted on it. 

   Later he was the one to move that meetings of the constitutional convention be started with a prayer. Although the gospel had not been restored yet, God acknowledges the prayers of the righteous, and their offering likely helped them be more sensitive to the spirit while drafting the constitution.

Humble Assembly

   Further contributing to the delegates ability to receive inspiration were the circumstances and situations members had been raised in or exposed to. Delegates from Pennsylvania had been refused protection from state militia because of the inability of the Congress to enforce the protection of its citizens from domestic threats.

  Compounding the frustration of many of the delegates was the lack of funds from their respective states. Many were not reimbursed for travel expenses, and for a time spent money of their own to take part in congressional and constitutional conventions many miles away.

Reference to Inspiration

   George Washington, in expressing his awe of the newly drafter Constitution, stated that:

 “It appears to me, then, little short of a miracle, that the delegates from so many different states (which states you know are also different from each other in their manners, circumstances, and prejudices) should unite in forming a system of national Government, so little liable to well-founded objections.”

   Further adding  to its divine implications, we have God stating its purpose in the Doctrine & Covenants of the Church:

"77 According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles;

 78 That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.

 79 Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another."

   These purposes were protected by the constitution which outlines a system of powers and courts to protect the liberty of the people. One branch would not have enough power to oppress another or the citizens, and citizens rights would only be taken away in fair trials in established courts.