This is a historic day for our nation, but one that's little celebrated.
The U.S. Constitution was written between May and September of 1797 and was ratified on June 21, 1788. A date of was set for the new government to take effect and for the Constitution supersede the Articles of Confederation to become the supreme law of the land.
And so it was on March 4, 1789, the first Congress under the Constitution of the United States met at Federal Hall in New York.
The system of government we still operate under today, 235 years later, was officially brought to life.
Those years have seen good times and bad, to be sure. We almost lost our Constitutional government to a devastating civil war.
And even today we are witnessing division and strife within our government -- indeed, our nation as a whole. Some on the radical fringe have even called for violent rebellion, even a second civil war, while claiming to uphold the Constitution and cloaking their poisonous rants in a donning a shroud of Americanism.
They dishonor the Constitution they claim to love. And nothing could be less American that that.
It's a such times that we should look to the wisdom of the Founding Fathers, enshrined forever in our Constitution. And remember we operate under rule of law, not the whims of popular sentiment. That's why we are still the United States of America, 235 years after that fateful day in New York.