On June 21, 1788, the United States reached a historic milestone: New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution, making it the final approval needed to establish the Constitution as the supreme law of the land.  This foundational moment occurred 237 years ago, marking a bold experiment in governance based on democratic principles and constitutional law.  Since then, the Constitution has been amended only 27 times, despite more than 11,000 proposed amendments, a fact that reflects both the reverence for the document and the difficulties involved in changing it.

But in 2025, amid widening political polarisation, questions about judicial overreach, institutional gridlock, and the erosion of public trust, we must confront an urgent question: Is the Constitution still fulfilling its promise to “We the People”?

Jefferson’s Warning: Constitutions Must Live and Breathe

Thomas Jefferson, one of the most influential Founders, offered a prescient critique of constitutional immutability.  Writing to Samuel Kercheval on July 12, 1816, he observed:

“Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched…”

Jefferson argued that such untouchable reverence was dangerous. The Constitution was not intended as scripture, but as a framework designed by fallible men constrained by the science, culture, and political knowledge of their time.  

He insisted that constitutions must evolve with the lived experiences of the people they govern: “...Forty years of experience in government is worth a century of book-reading… they would say themselves were they to rise from the dead.”

This belief culminated in Jefferson’s powerful assertion in a letter to James Madison on September 6, 1789:

“No society can make a perpetual constitution, or even a perpetual law.  The earth belongs always to the living generation.”

Jefferson’s point was not merely theoretical.  He envisioned constitutions as contracts between generations, meant to be reviewed, revised, and reimagined.  Constitutional permanence, in his view, leads not to order but to stagnation—a society locked in the frameworks of its past, unable to rise to the challenges of the present.

2025 America: Fractured Institutions and Waning Trust

In today’s America, Jefferson’s warnings ring louder than ever.

Partisan Gridlock: Congressional inaction on crucial issues—ranging from gun violence to climate change—exposes a system designed for compromise but paralysed by division.

Judicial Supremacy: The Supreme Court, originally intended as a co-equal branch, now holds outsized power in shaping everything from reproductive rights to environmental regulation—often with lifetime-appointed justices wielding decades of influence far beyond the era that confirmed them.

Electoral Inequality: Gerrymandering and the Electoral College have created vast disparities between the popular will and actual political outcomes, undermining the principle of “one person, one vote.”

Economic Disparity and Corporate Power: Citizens United v. FEC (2010) transformed elections by equating money with speech, amplifying the voice of corporations, and silencing ordinary citizens.

Erosion of Civil Discourse: Trust in government institutions has reached historic lows, with misinformation, media fragmentation, and ideological polarisation weakening the civic fabric.

These are not merely policy failures—they are constitutional symptoms.  The document that was designed to serve “We the People” now increasingly appears to serve those best positioned to manipulate its ambiguities and rigidities.

Global Ripples: America's Constitution and Its International Impact

The consequences of an outdated constitutional framework do not stop at America’s borders.  U.S. foreign policy, shaped by executive prerogative and congressional dysfunction, has produced inconsistent global leadership.  Examples include:

The withdrawal from international agreements (like the Paris Accord and the Iran Nuclear Deal) under one administration, followed by re-entry under the next, reveal the instability bred by excessive executive power.

Foreign military engagements—often launched without formal declarations of war—underscore Congress’s abdication of its war powers.

Globally, the U.S. example of constitutional democracy has lost its luster.  Nations once inspired by the U.S. model now look elsewhere as America struggles with domestic unrest, racial tensions, mass shootings, and a widening wealth gap.

The global perception of the U.S. as a stable democracy has diminished.  From Eastern Europe to Latin America, constitutional scholars and democratic reformers are increasingly pointing to Scandinavian models or newer constitutional systems in places like South Africa and Iceland as more dynamic and people-centered.

Toward Renewal: Honouring the Spirit, Not the Text Alone

Ironically, those most vocal in defending the Constitution today often do so by opposing any serious attempt to reform it.  But constitutional fidelity is not the same as constitutional stagnation.  To truly honour the Founders, we must embrace the ethos they themselves articulated: to learn, to adapt, and to renew.

June 21st should not be celebrated merely as the day the Constitution was ratified.  It should also be remembered as a moment to ask whether our social contract still holds.  The question before us is not whether the Constitution is sacred.  It is whether it is still serving “We the People.”

If the answer is no, then patriotism demands not reverence, but reform.

 

References for Further Reading

1. Jefferson, Thomas. Letter to Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816.  In The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, edited by Andrew A. Lipscomb and Albert Ellery Bergh.  Washington, D.C.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904–5.
2. Jefferson, Thomas.  Letter to James Madison, September 6, 1789.  In The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, edited by Julian P. Boyd.  Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1958.
3. Amar, Akhil Reed.  America’s Constitution: A Biography.  New York: Random House, 2005.
4. Levinson, Sanford.  Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It).  New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
5. Dahl, Robert A.  How Democratic Is the American Constitution? 2nd ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.
6. Mounk, Yascha.  The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It.  Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2018.
7. United States Supreme Court.  Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010).
8. Pew Research Center.  “Public Trust in Government: 1958–2023.” https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/06/06/public-trust-in-government-1958-2023/
9. Baidya, Ryan.  A New Constitution: A New America. California: Takshila Foundation Press, 2025.

 

Image provided by the author.