Freeport High School - Clarion Yearbook (Freeport, ME)

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THE OLARI ON Che Constitution, it LBuarantee of Tlnbivioual liberty In 1787 fifty-tive inen gathered in Philadelphia to prepare the working policy ofa new nation. A nation founded on revolu- tion whose every principle should be in contrast to all past and present governmental policies. Kings and princes were for- gotten. People who had never known any nation but a lnon- archy we1'e to propose a ruler who had heretofore been ruled. They were to suggest to a wo1'ld of kings that there could be no ruler of man other than man 3 that man had no earthly 1113.5- ter but himself. The eyes of the world were focused on that gathering in Philadelphia. Everywhere the connnon people were for a pol- itical Messiah. In France the masses were waiting for the day when the Bastille would be overthrown. ICngland's kings were making a last stand against the inroads of democracy. And there came the Constitution of the United States tJfAl1lGl'iC2.. All men are created equal .......... certain unalienable rights .......... life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. America had said but eleven years before. The idea was not new. In 1700 people knew of John Locke and his theories about Contract Governuient--that governments are instituted among men, deriving their powers from the people governed. John Jaques Rousseau had said that the 'first origin of government was the will of the people, and fourteen years after his death the French set up a republic on that theory. The idea was not new, but heretofore no nation had tried to operate on it. The world turned to regard this new state, which cast aside the governmental policies ot centuries, and dared to say that the com mon people were lit to rule themselves. Kings, nestled in the castles and traditions of ages, sneered. They,ll have a king in ten yearsf, said a meinber of the British Parliament. Trial and error again, reinarked the French minister of the moment. 28

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LITERARY Mother, called Diana to the dim figure in the hall, we're going over to lVcstland to say good-hye to Jack and Pam. See you later, and they were off in Tony's father's sedan. Wish you'd brought the roadster instead, Tony. About ten o'cloek the telephone at Fairis rang. Mr. Fair answered it. Miz Fair? Yes, 73 'Tin sorry to tell you that your daughter and Anthony McRae went over the Boulevard Bridge. Unable to escape from the se- dan, they were drowned, eanie over the wire in a crisp, author- itative voice. Snuffed candles --their light gone out just on the threshold of their lives. In after years Mrs. Fair often recalled Di's re- mark on that fateful evening, and with aching heart, but stead- fast faith, turned to I'Ill11 who doeth all things xvellf' Donorur Tnonlrsobr '30 AM BITION Ambition has a road to pave, To where a shining goal exists. We carry our llag, on high to wave, As on we inarcli through dark and mists. We must not let our courage quail, All iirni, and staunch we must remain. ln work and duty, must not fail, Must see ambition does not wane. llut if in striving for llie lofty place, At lirst we do not quite succeed, We must not then give up the race, For we may yet he i11 the lead. CHIIISTINIC .PRITIIAM '31 27 '

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LITERARY But these fifty-tive men had the task of building a nation on the very principles that nobility scorned. We the peoplev was the authority, and personal liberty and personal rights were the aims. The constitution was to secure, under a democratic government, these rights and these liberties for all time. Certain of these rights had been causes of controversy for centuries. Even in America, where the king's agents held the whip, people had been denied the right of trial by jury. Per- sons had been imprisoned without trial. France was even then covered with Louis' lcttres de cachet which hc signed blank, and which would send a man to prison without trial. The new constitution must do away with such practices in the United States. And it did. WVe tind the provisions that all accused persons shall have the right of speedy and public trials by impartial juries in the district where the crime was committed, that they shall be confronted with witnesses against them, that they shall have counsel, and that they shall be given the means of pro- curing witnesses in their favor. In written law the right of trial by jury was secured forever, a right which less than twenty years before, King George had denied his subjects. The rack, and'the long cruel incarcerations in dank dungeons must be forsworu. In the same year that Louis the 16th com- mitted a woman to the Bastille upon the complaint, by unknown assailants, for no one knows what, the American statesmen wrote into their constitution, Excessive bails shall not be rc- quired, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual pun- ishments inflicted, nor shall any warrants be issued but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particu- larly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized. It was a thrust at the hated customs of Europe. It was a gesture of the heart, and it has stood un- changed for better than a lu1nd1'ed years. I 29