PREFACE TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL STUDIES SERIES

Most Americans have heard of "the Constitution" but, unfortunately, only a small percentage of them know anything about it and many of those have only a general or vague idea of what it says. Even among our elected representatives, who swear an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution, many of them don't know what's in it. When it comes to the history of the Constitution and understanding why it was written, what principles it seeks to enshrine in law, and what its purpose is, the vast majority of American citizens are completely ignorant.

As a result of this ignorance, the public at large goes about their life unaware that our freedoms come from the Constitution and that, if not followed as written, all Americans could lose the liberties they now take for granted. For over 200 years Americans have enjoyed a level of freedom that no country in world history has had and because of that they have become lulled into a false sense of thinking that we could never lose our cherished freedoms.

However, because it is the nature of men to desire power, there have always been those who have sought to set themselves in a position to rule over others but the Constitution was written in such a way as to prevent that from happening at the federal level of our country. Therefore, men of ambition have always sought to find ways to circumvent the Constitution because it is their greatest obstacle to gaining the power they want.

The only way to prevent that from happening is to have an informed public who is sufficiently knowledgeable about the Constitution to know when someone is violating its rules and principles. This website is designed to help people gain a better knowlege of what the Constitution is, what it says, what its purpose, intent, and meaning is in a way that is not only informative but clear and easy to understand.

The articles on this website are not intended to be like a book where one chapter builds upon the information found in the previous chapters. Instead, each article is a stand-alone essay, meaning that each article is not dependant on the information learned in any other article. Because of this, some of the information found in one essay can also be found in other essays. The purpose of these articles is not to eliminate repetition but to present a full discussion of a particular subject in a way that the reader doesn't need to refer to any other essay in order to gain an understanding of the topic being discussed. In this way, each essay can be shared separately with others who may want more information about a particular topic.

These articles are a result of much research and study in an attempt to find answers to concerns that have been raised in relationship to the Constitution. The information they contain comes from multiple sources and all of it can easily be verified on the web. The purpose of this site is not to present anything new or to provide a scholarly analysis of Constitutional law because, even among Constitutional scholars, there will always be differences of opinions.

Instead, the goal of this site is to provide a non-technical, factual, common sense approach to the principles contained in the Constitution in a way that the average reader will understand and can relate to. It is expected that not everyone will agree with everything that is written in these essays but, while each person is free to have their own opinions on any subject, the purpose of these articles is to give as accurate an understanding as possible of what the writers of the Constitution intended when they wrote that document.

Ron Cappelli