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The American Constitutions were to Liberty what a grammar is to language: they define… — Thomas Paine

Philosophical literature · Political literature

The American Constitutions were to Liberty what a grammar is to language: they define its parts of speech, and practically construct them into syntax.

Thomas Paine
Rights of Man · 1791
★ 5.4
Other tags relating to this quote
Topic
US Constitution
Genre
Philosophical literaturePolitical literature
Time
1791
Person
Thomas Paine
Provenance
Current citation
Paine, Thomas. "Rights of Man." Rights of Man, Common Sense, and Other Political Writings, edited by Mark Philp. Oxford University Press, 2009.
Original citation
Paine, Thomas. Rights of Man. London: J. S. Jordan, 1791.

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We current Justices read the Constitution in the only way that we can: as Twentieth Century Americans. We look into the history of the time of framing and to the intervening history of interpretation. But, the ultimate question must be, what do the words of the text mean in our time. For the genius of the Constitution rests not in any static meaning it might have had in a world that is dead and gone, but it's in the adaptability of its great principles to cope with current problems and current needs.

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