Some 238 years ago, a contingent representing the states of the newly independent United States of America gathered in Philadelphia.

There to reform the Articles of Confederation, they came up with this familiar grouping of words, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, 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.”

That carefully worded document, the foundation of our society, has endured, and we celebrate the Constitution and its authors each year on Sept. 17.

The United States Constitution was signed on Sept. 17, 1787, giving power, structure an

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