The Constitution – Sunday, September 23, 1945
Within the past few days we of America have seen come and go another anniversary of great significance in our history, the one hundred fifty-eighth anniversary of the Constitution of the United States. It would not be wholly correct to say that this anniversary was passed over without notice, because here and there it was both officially and unofficially referred to—but to say that it was passed by, unnoticed by many Americans, is conservatively within the facts.
We have holidays and other days of special designation which mean much less to us in reality, to which we give much more attention, for it is by the existence and the acceptance of the Constitution of the United States, and its attendant Bill of Rights, that Americans are guaranteed their freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of worship—indeed, freedom itself, including that free enterprise which opens the way to opportunity for all, and which encourages the use of the greatest number of gifts in the greatest number of people. Sometimes, and in some places, there has been noted a tendency to suppose that the Constitution is a document which represents one period of our history, but which has passed its prime usefulness. But let someone, anyone—succeed in removing the checks and balances, the restraints and the guarantees, the powers and the limitations of the Constitution, and the fallacy of this vain supposition would quickly appear in the lives of a wiser and sorrier people, who would find that they would have freedom to win all over again.
There have also been those who make no frontal attack on the Constitution, who give it lip service, but who seek to nullify it in effect; who support it in words, but set about to by-pass it in practice. And so we voice again our solemn conviction that “the Constitution of the United States is a glorious standard … founded in the wisdom of God . . .” and “established by the hands of wise men whom … the Lord God raised … up unto this very purpose.” And such conviction is immeasurably strengthened by the war now closed.
The history of the world would henceforth have been undeniably different and less tolerable for freedom-loving peoples everywhere, except for the strength and the achievements of that free enterprise which has been protected and fostered under the Constitution. Again we feel to thank God for the Constitution of the United States, and for the men who framed it under His inspiration. May God preserve it, and may we ourselves be ever vigilant to preserve it, not only as an historic document, but as a living instrument of freedom in our own land, and as a symbol of hope and of freedom and of opportunity in all others.
“The Spoken Word,” heard over Radio Station K S L and the nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System, from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, Sept. 23,1945. Copyright 1945.
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September 23, 1945
Broadcast Number 0840