The blessings of Thanksgiving

"Thus was achieved another, and still more glorious, triumph, in the case of liberty, even than that, by which we were separated from the parent country. It was not achieved, however, without great difficulties and sacrifices of opinion. It required all the wisdom, the patriotism, and the genius of our best statesmen, to overcome the objections, which, from various causes, were arrayed against it. The history of those times is full of melancholy instruction, at once to admonish us of the dangers, through which we have passed, and of the necessity of incessant vigilance, to guard and preserve, what has been thus hardly earned. … What a humiliating lesson is this, after all our sufferings and sacrifices, and after our long and sad experience of the evils of disunited councils, and of the pernicious influence of State jealousies, and local interests! It teaches us, how slowly even adversity brings the mind to a due sense of what political wisdom requires. It teaches us, how liberty itself may be lost, when men are found ready to hazard its permanent blessings, rather than submit to the wholesome restraints, which its permanent security demands.

To those great men, who thus framed the Constitution, and secured the adoption of it, we owe a debt of gratitude, which can scarcely be repaid. It was not then, as it is now, looked upon, from the blessings, which, under the guidance of Divine Providence, it has bestowed, with general favor and affection. On the contrary, many of those pure and disinterested patriots, who stood forth, the firm advocates of its principles, did so at the expense of their existing popularity. They felt that they had a higher duty to perform than to flatter the prejudices of the people, or to subserve selfish, or sectional, or local interests. Many of them went to their graves, without the soothing consolation, that their service and their sacrifices were duly appreciated. They scorned every attempt to rise to power and influence by the common arts of demagogues; and the were content to trust their characters, and their conduct, to the deliberate judgment of posterity."

Joseph Story, "Origin of the Constitution", Familiar Exposition of the Constitution (1840).

Joseph Story (1779-1845) was a Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1811 to 1845. He was nominated by President James Monroe to the Court in November 1811, at the age of thirty-two. Story remains the youngest Supreme Court Justice at appointment. In the Court, he found a congenial home for the brilliance of his scholarship and the development and expression of his political philosophy.

As we approach Thanksgiving 2009 we have much for which to be thankful. Thanks be to God for Who He is and all He has done, for family, friends and all our material blessings.

Let us note we too often forget our history and those who've gone before us in making our nation great. We have been blessed with Founding Fathers who were men of principle and understanding of the true nature of man and the God-ordained role of government in the lives of people.

Thanksgiving is a time when we should look back on the American Revolution, the founding of this country, and the creation of the Constitution with gratitude for the Founders' wisdom and willingness to sacrifice for a cause greater than themselves.

A Tdj by Cheryl Walker, with thanks.