Remembering Constitution Day
From Independence Hall to today’s statehouses, the Constitution’s enduring framework lives on through limited government, free markets, and federalism.
When the Founders gathered in Philadelphia in 1787, they weren’t writing a rulebook for bureaucracy. They were building a republic grounded in freedom, responsibility, and self-government. They understood that liberty is fragile, that unchecked power always descends into tyranny, and that the people – through their states and representatives – are the true guardians of their destiny.
That vision remains as alive today as it was that day in Independence Hall. The Constitution provided a framework for citizens to prosper, for government to be limited, and for states to roar as the engines of innovation. It is no accident that the greatest examples of American growth have come not from Washington, but from the free people and free communities working throughout the states.
The American Legislative Exchange Council continues in that same constitutional spirit. For more than half a century, ALEC has provided state leaders with the tools to restrain government, encourage opportunity, and return decision-making to those closest to the people. In an era when Washington sits bloated and detached, ALEC has stayed true to the Founders’ conviction that real solutions rise from the states upward, not the other way around.
This is the genius of the American system that ALEC protects to this day. Our Constitution has endured wars, depressions, and internal scuffles because it is based on the timeless truths about human nature and the dangers of concentrated power. Those who drafted it believed that a nation dedicated to liberty would withstand any trial. In our work across all fifty states, ALEC keeps faith with that belief by ensuring that limited government, free markets, and federalism remain the cornerstones of American life.
The Constitution launched a nation unlike any in history. It wasn’t built by kings or decrees, but by a belief in liberty, responsibility, and self-government. At ALEC, we work to ensure that this founding vision endures. Not as a relic to be locked behind museum glass, but as a living framework for a free nation governed by a free people.
America’s states remain the laboratories of democracy, each one a testament to the genius of the patriots who gathered in Philadelphia in 1787. Their experiment in freedom has carried us across centuries, and it continues to guide us forward into America’s next golden age.
Happy Constitution Day.