At 6:30 p.m. on September 21, 2016 in the Campus Center Event Room, the Stockton students and faculty were provided with the experiential opportunity to listen to the guest speaker, Akhil Reed Amar, hosted by the Political Engagement Project/American Democracy Project, the Office of Service-Learning and the Office of the Provost. To provide some background, Mr. Amar is a professor and law and political science at Yale University and engages in many cases as well as writes for widely-known papers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post. The session began with the distribution of a handheld Constitution book to all the individuals who attended and as the speaker came out, he introduced some general historical facts. A few of these include: The Declaration of Independence was penned on the Fourth of July, 1776 and National Constitution Day is on the Seventeenth of September, originally signed in 1787. These facts helped to open up the main session in which Constitutional rights and interpretations were discussed.

The Constitution is constantly being publicized to vote for or against it and there is partially a secular vision which is associated with it. In addition, as the values and morals of America continue to change, a concern is how strictly an American should abide by the laws of this document. However, in contrast, the British do not have a democratic constitution and their government seems to function in an orderly fashion which might suggest the possibility that the Constitution can be rendered useless if the same results are provided. The idea that there was a democracy revolution is fascinating in that the “big bang” of implementing such a document into the laws of the country began with America and then spread to Western Europe. Following this lecture in which the audience was supplied with an analysis on the importance of the Constitution, there was an opening for any questions.

An essential portion of this informational event was realizing that the foundation of Stockton University is built on the basis of the Constitution since Richard Stockton was one of the signers of the most important documents in American history. This connection which my school holds truly allows me to appreciate my school and education for enlightening with from a liberal arts perspective. In relation to the Debate Days and the Election which just passed, this dialogue highlighted the paper which America was built upon and how each of the presidential candidates was able to uphold these Constitutional rights through their platforms and campaigning. This session was entirely enjoyable on the basis that one was educated in preparation for the elections, as mentioned above, and was provided with an unbiased view on the Constitution. I would recommend this to any individual of any major who wishes to learn more about the history of America. Although this was a one-time event, similar organized dialogues constitute an expansion of information in the political science world. In summary, the Constitution was a document written once; however, its laws should be considered continuously throughout the days of America.