Today marks the beginning of Constitution Week, set aside to commemorate the framework of laws and tenets that has guided the United States of America for more than 200 years.

Birthed from the need to develop a standard set of governances for our developing nation, the Constitution has grown to become a document that: attempted to impose morality (with the 18th Amendment which prohibited the manufacture or sale of alcoholic beverages); righted social wrongs (by granting all citizens the right to vote, regardless of race, in the 16th Amendment and by abolishing slavery in the 13th Amendment) and even clarified the workings of our government (with the 25th Amendment, which outlines the line of succession for the presidency, the 20th Amendment, which specifies terms of office and meeting times for Congress, and others).

Yet, the greatest triumph of this Constitution is the lasting freedoms it guarantees for each of us: the right to a free press, the right to peaceably assemble, the right to religious freedom.

Even the freedom to disagree with our goverment is a right protected by that Constitution … and one we cherish just as much today as did the men who authored the Bill of Rights in 1791.

It is these basic rights and freedoms — the ideals upon which our democracy has flourished for more than 200 years — that the Constitution grants and protect.

On face value, the Constitution is simply a set of words and an outline of how to govern. Its life comes from &uot;we, the people&uot; –&160;the generations of Americans who embrace its ideals and who, with deep respect, swear to uphold the Constitution and the rights and freedoms it protects.

It is ours to celebrate, to protect and to preserve.