"What We Don't Know..."

"What we don't know, we don't appreciate.  What we don't appreciate, we discard," wrote St. Augustine many years ago, but is still quite true today.  In fact, he could have been describing present day America. The State of the Union Address this past week is a good example of that.

At the time of the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, Americans knew that the legislative branch of government was to be dominant over the other two branches. Whether the U.S. Constitution should be ratified was hotly debated throughout the country, and there was no lack of knowledge about it.  The Federalist Papers, written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, were published to encourage ratification and the Anti-Federalists were just as vocal, with Patrick Henry as one of the leading spokesman.

The leading Federalists assured Americans that the power of government would be limited and separated into three distinct parts, with each branch able to restrain the other two branches.  A further assurance was that the Representatives of the People and the States would be more powerful than the Chief Executive and the Supreme Court Justices.  (Americans were a little "king" shy, having just come out from under the tyrannical rule of King George III.)  As stated in Federalist Paper # 48, written by Madison, "The legislative department derives a superiority in our government...its' constitutional powers more extensive and less susceptible of precise limits...

The departments are listed in the Constitution in their order of power, Article I Legislative, Article II Executive, Article III Judicial.  The Legislative Branch being listed first and is by far the longest of the three, because "We the People" give them more authority and responsibility.

After the Constitution was ratified by the states, President George Washington searched the District of Columbia for the highest hill in the area to place the Capitol Building, where the peoples' representatives would make the laws.  He located a hill 88 feet high - known as "Capitol Hill" today.  President Washington chose the highest place to indicate that the highest authority was "the People".  "Here, Sir, the People rule!" spoke Federalist author Alexander Hamilton.

Back to the dismal State of the Union Address from last week,  I don't think the President or most of Congress have this knowledge- it hasn't been taught in many years.  It obviously wasn't appreciated and was discarded.