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Founding fathers inspired by a higher power, LDS apostle says By
Dusty Decker
"And the rockets' red glaRe the Bombs Bursting in air gave Prooth through the night that our FwlaG was still TheRe." Sighs of amazement could be heard from the standing audience in the Utah State University Spectrum Sunday night when 4-year-old Rex Spjute sang the Star-Spangled Banner. He wore a green vest over his white church shirt and his small blond head could be seen by most the audience. Moments before, USU ROTC marched in 30 American flags for the flag ceremony. Spjute sang the words clearly and calmly with no accompaniment as his father stood nearby. "... the laaand of the Freeeee and the hOMe of the BRAve." This solo set the mood for the Prelude to Freedom, the ninth annual Cache Valley commemoration of the signing the U.S. Constitution. Four choirs -- Northern Utah choral Society, Bel Canto Singers, USU LDS Institute Choir and New Horizons -- followed the small boy with the remaining verses of the song while Cache Valley residents and USU students still stood pondering the child's incredible talent. Many had come to hear Elder Dallin H. Oaks, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speak, but first Tamsyn Anderson, senior division winner of the Year 2000 Speech Contest called "One Nation Under God," spoke. Anderson, who has been home-taught school her entire life, emphasized the need to "teach the children, teach them from your hearts that you have a love of freedom." She also encouraged the audience to understand that they must be responsible for their own selves and that the answer lies within. Anderson plans to attend USU next year. Afterward, the choir sang out richly, "Oh, beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life." This arrangement by Will Kesling of America the Beautiful established a patriotic tone for Elder Oaks, the second and last speaker. Oaks began serving as an apostle for the LDS Church in May 1984. He has been a law professor and was president of Brigham Young University from 1971 to 1980. He served as Utah Supreme Court Justice before becoming an apostle. Oaks addressed the principles of the founding fathers of the Constitution. He explained how the principles were not unanimously supported by those founding fathers and that, "there is significant debate over what those principles were." He also discussed how Latter-day Saints believe that the Constitution was divinely inspired and further explained, "I believe this inquiry will be of interest to persons of every religious faith especially those who see the hand of God in the founding of our nation." Our 213-year-old Constitution was the first written constitution in the world, Oaks told the audience and, "it has become our nation's most important exploit." Every nation, except six, has adopted a written constitution with ours as the model, he said. He talked about the 13 colonies and the division that existed among them. Debate from those who wanted continued independence, consisted of whether there should be a strong central government to replace the weak Articles of Confederation. Those articles could not be amended unless there was unanimous approval among all the states. When soldiers seeking back wages threatened to take congressmen hostage in July 1783, at a meeting in Philadelphia, the government of Pennsylvania would not provide militia to protect them. "The congressmen fled. Thereafter Congress was a laughing stock, wandering from city to city like a homeless nomad," Oaks said. He stated that unless a central government was formed, "the 13 states would remain a group of insignificant, feuding little nations, united by nothing more than geography and forever vulnerable to the impositions of aggressive foreign powers." James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, both in their 30s encouraged George Washington to attend an organizing convention and to help get all the states to be present. They held a convention to discuss amendments to the Articles of Confederation, but they also supported the idea of a strong central government. They met in Philadelphia. It took 11 days before there were enough states to form a quorum. The colonies were economically and politically weak, but "instead of acting timidly because of disunity and weakness the delegates boldly ignored the terms of their invitation to amend the Articles of Confederation and set about to write an entirely new constitution," Oaks said. Many ways were discussed on how to write the Constitution. Secrecy was crucial to the success of what the delegates planned to do. They all promised to not speak outside of the meeting room about the progress of their work. Oaks said, "There is irony in the fact that a Constitution which protects the people's right to know, was written under a set of ground rules that its present beneficiaries would not tolerate." It took seven weeks of debate to decide how to set up the government with a House and Senate. Oaks said, "The success of the convention was attributed, in part, to the remarkable intelligence, wisdom and unselfishness of the delegates. Truly our Constitution was established by the hands of wise men whom the Lord raised up unto this very purpose." Out of 74 appointed delegates, only 55 were part of the Philadelphia convention and only 39 signed and completed the document. The delegates, in order to ratify the Constitution, had to vote for a document that did not totally meet every expectation they had. "We should not expect all of our personal preferences in a document that must represent a consensus," explained Oaks. "We should not sulk over a representative body's failure to obtain perfection, we are well advised to support the best that can be obtained in the circumstances that prevail. That is sound advice not only for the drafting of the constitution but also for the adoption and administration of the laws under it. That is a point not understood by many United States citizens." Oaks remarked that the Constitution was sustained with just barely enough votes. He spoke about what the constitution actually contains. "Our reverence for the Untied States Constitution is so great that we sometimes speak as if its every word and phrase had the same standing as scripture. Personally I have never considered it necessary to defend that possibility." Emotion swelled in his voice when he closed his talk with words from the hymn My Country 'Tis of Thee. "Long may our land be bright with freedom's holy light. Protect us by thy might, Great God, our King!"
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