Wolf’s pack gathered to welcome Moon. She asked them to show her the wolfie ways.
How to pounce.
How to play.
How to howl. How to be still.
How to listen and feel.
The forest exhaled and so did Moon.
from Moon
written and illustrated by Alison Oliver
Clarion Books, 2018
Alison Oliver’s main character, Moon, is looking for freedom. She’s chasing her “wild side.” But even she, a young child, knows that being free, free from cares, responsibilities, and fear, requires boundaries.
Our behavioral boundaries are our laws. Nowadays, those boundaries encompass a whole legal system. Most of us are not lawyers. How do we know where our freedoms stop and someone else’s begin?
Do no harm, the hippocratic oath, is a good place to start.
Having a look at the Preamble to our Constitution is another. Those 52 words, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America,” are enshrined in the memories of many students, history teachers, and drama coaches.
But are those strong words still relevant 250 years later?
While we all know Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence and the document itself, most of us would be hard pressed to give an answer to “Who wrote the Preamble to the Constitution?” The answer, Gouverneur Morris (1752 - 1816), is one Founding Father who received and still receives little press and according to some, deserves more attention.
Morris was an advocate for independence from Great Britain. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention. He was an emissary to France during the bloodiest times in their Revolution.
He was also chairman of the Erie Canal Commission. And he designed Manhattan’s street grid.
He was vehemently against slavery. At times he crossed Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine. But, when Alexander Hamilton was dying from his wounds inflicted by Aaron Burr, Hamilton’s wife told Morris he was the best friend her husband had.
He was liked and respected by George Washington.
Most of us haven’t heard of Gouverneur Morris, even though he wrote much of the Constitution. And that document’s Preamble was Morris’s alone. He expressed our new government’s aspirations. His eye was to the formation of a united nation, giving more power to a central government and less to the individual states. He thought in big terms.
By beginning with “We the People,” Morris clarified his own intention. He spoke for the people, all the people all the American people.
He listed the goals regarding why the document has been “ordained and established.”
to form a more perfect Union
establish Justice
insure domestic Tranquility
provide for the common defense
promote the general Welfare
secure the Blessings of Liberty
Morris concluded that the “Constitution…be a legal instrument of lasting Posterity.’”
But it was Edmund Randolph, a delegate from Virginia, who argued for a succinct summary, explaining (as noted in Constitution Annotated) “why the ‘establishment of a supreme legislative[,] executive[,] and judiciary’ was necessary.”
Morris emphasized its necessity by focusing on the Constitution’s legality rather than its being a philosophical treatise, that the legal aspect of the Constitution was established for “ourselves and our Posterity.”
James Monroe called the Preamble the “Key of the Constitution.”
On September 17, 1787, thirty-eight (plus the Convention’s secretary) out of the 55 delegates in attendance signed the original document. Here's a list with links to their biographies.
Once the signatures were affixed, the Constitutional Convention dissolved itself leaving no active body or authorized procedure for accepting late signatures.
But signing the finished document was only one step, an important one to be sure, on the Constitution’s path to becoming the law of the new land. At least 9 states were needed to ratify the Constitution before it could become law. The vote was conducted in state conventions that counted the popular vote, ensuring the will of the people.
On June 21, 1788, the ninth state, New Hampshire, voted to ratify, and the official United States of America was recognized. On May 29, 1790, Rhode Island was the last to ratify, making ratification unanimous.
So is the Constitution still relevant? Does the Preamble still speak for all the American people?
Gouverneur Morris’s language was intentionally ambiguous. Some intentionally vague. He left room for interpretation. The delegates agreed, unanimously, to accept his words..
They’ve been arguing, discussing, and interpreting ever since.
I’m a little past half-way in My Friends by Fredrik Backman (Atria/Simon & Schuster, 2025). It’s a powerful story of friendship. It’s about the power of art to change lives. It speaks to the power of coincidence and intention. Told with humor, wisdom, and surprising comparisons, I’m finding this one hard to put down!
Be curious! (and click https://vote.gov/register
to register or check that your registration is current)
How to pounce.
How to play.
How to howl. How to be still.
How to listen and feel.
The forest exhaled and so did Moon.
from Moon
written and illustrated by Alison Oliver
Clarion Books, 2018
Alison Oliver’s main character, Moon, is looking for freedom. She’s chasing her “wild side.” But even she, a young child, knows that being free, free from cares, responsibilities, and fear, requires boundaries.
Our behavioral boundaries are our laws. Nowadays, those boundaries encompass a whole legal system. Most of us are not lawyers. How do we know where our freedoms stop and someone else’s begin?
Do no harm, the hippocratic oath, is a good place to start.
Having a look at the Preamble to our Constitution is another. Those 52 words, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America,” are enshrined in the memories of many students, history teachers, and drama coaches.
But are those strong words still relevant 250 years later?
While we all know Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence and the document itself, most of us would be hard pressed to give an answer to “Who wrote the Preamble to the Constitution?” The answer, Gouverneur Morris (1752 - 1816), is one Founding Father who received and still receives little press and according to some, deserves more attention.
Morris was an advocate for independence from Great Britain. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention. He was an emissary to France during the bloodiest times in their Revolution.
He was also chairman of the Erie Canal Commission. And he designed Manhattan’s street grid.
He was vehemently against slavery. At times he crossed Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine. But, when Alexander Hamilton was dying from his wounds inflicted by Aaron Burr, Hamilton’s wife told Morris he was the best friend her husband had.
He was liked and respected by George Washington.
Most of us haven’t heard of Gouverneur Morris, even though he wrote much of the Constitution. And that document’s Preamble was Morris’s alone. He expressed our new government’s aspirations. His eye was to the formation of a united nation, giving more power to a central government and less to the individual states. He thought in big terms.
By beginning with “We the People,” Morris clarified his own intention. He spoke for the people, all the people all the American people.
He listed the goals regarding why the document has been “ordained and established.”
to form a more perfect Union
establish Justice
insure domestic Tranquility
provide for the common defense
promote the general Welfare
secure the Blessings of Liberty
Morris concluded that the “Constitution…be a legal instrument of lasting Posterity.’”
But it was Edmund Randolph, a delegate from Virginia, who argued for a succinct summary, explaining (as noted in Constitution Annotated) “why the ‘establishment of a supreme legislative[,] executive[,] and judiciary’ was necessary.”
Morris emphasized its necessity by focusing on the Constitution’s legality rather than its being a philosophical treatise, that the legal aspect of the Constitution was established for “ourselves and our Posterity.”
James Monroe called the Preamble the “Key of the Constitution.”
On September 17, 1787, thirty-eight (plus the Convention’s secretary) out of the 55 delegates in attendance signed the original document. Here's a list with links to their biographies.
Once the signatures were affixed, the Constitutional Convention dissolved itself leaving no active body or authorized procedure for accepting late signatures.
But signing the finished document was only one step, an important one to be sure, on the Constitution’s path to becoming the law of the new land. At least 9 states were needed to ratify the Constitution before it could become law. The vote was conducted in state conventions that counted the popular vote, ensuring the will of the people.
On June 21, 1788, the ninth state, New Hampshire, voted to ratify, and the official United States of America was recognized. On May 29, 1790, Rhode Island was the last to ratify, making ratification unanimous.
So is the Constitution still relevant? Does the Preamble still speak for all the American people?
Gouverneur Morris’s language was intentionally ambiguous. Some intentionally vague. He left room for interpretation. The delegates agreed, unanimously, to accept his words..
They’ve been arguing, discussing, and interpreting ever since.
I’m a little past half-way in My Friends by Fredrik Backman (Atria/Simon & Schuster, 2025). It’s a powerful story of friendship. It’s about the power of art to change lives. It speaks to the power of coincidence and intention. Told with humor, wisdom, and surprising comparisons, I’m finding this one hard to put down!
Be curious! (and click https://vote.gov/register
to register or check that your registration is current)
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