Dear Editor: Wednesday, Sept. 17, was known as Constitution Day. ON that day in 1787 the constitutional convention concluded and the constitution was sent to the states for ratification.

The purpose of the constitution was explained by James Madison in the Federalist Papers No. 51. Madison wrote: “But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

The main purpose of the American constitution is to protect the liberty of the citizen by defining the powers that the federal government has and does not have. The federal government has grown far beyond what the founders ever dreamed of and it is necessary to reign in the size and scope of the federal government.

Brand Cariello

Norwalk

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Published: Sept. 25, 2014 - Volume 13 - Issue 24