Shall we condemn those who through lack of knowledge do not appreciate the great value of the Constitution? No, we should teach them. We should lead them. We should inspire them with love and veneration for this great bulwark of human freedom.
We must in very truth become teachers of all the people. We must carry to them the light of our knowledge. We must point out to them the rocks upon which other republics have been wrecked.(116)
We must teach them that in the Constitution we find an absolute guaranty of protection for life, for liberty, and for property rights. That there is no man so lowly, that he cannot point to the Constitution as his shield from the acts of the tyrant, that he cannot point to his humble home as his "castle", and under the sacred guaranties of the Constitution defy all the unlawful force of the world.
We must teach them that it guarantees the inviolability of contracts, that it prevents even a great State from taking the life or property of its humblest citizen without a trial under due process of law, that trial by jury is preserved, and that no man can be convicted of a crime without the privilege of being represented by counsel, and that no man can be compelled to be a witness against himself.
We must recall to them the awful tragedies enacted in the days of old, where, under Star Chamber proceedings, men were deprived of their property and their lives upon charges of treason, which were never proven; and then we must point out to them the burning words of the Constitution, which provides that no man can be found guilty of treason without at least two witnesses to the overt act.
We must impress upon them the great truth, that there is not now, and never has been, a system of government which can abolish sorrow, or sickness, or stay the hand of death. That no government can help men who will not help themselves; that there is no way in which any government can bring riches to the indolent, nor bread to those who will not toil. We must combat the false philosophy which assumes that all men are equal in all things, because men are not equal, except as under the Constitution they are equal before the law. No system of legislation and no method of government can equalize the strong with the weak, the wise with the simple, the good with the bad. While God gives to some men wisdom and shrewdness which others do not possess, while some are broad shouldered, with muscles of steel, and others are frail, and tremble as they walk, there will always be riches, there will always be poverty, and any scheme for equalizing the possessions of men is but an idle dream which never can be realized until men are made over into beings without passion or pride or ambition or selfishness. Do not let them feel that its provisions are intended to protect only the rich and powerful. If the right of a railway corporation to certain lands is sustained under some constitutional provision, do not allow the people to assume that this provision exists only for corporations, but impress upon them that the same constitutional provision which protects the railway company in its rights, may be invoked in defense of the little homestead out upon the prairies.