For those who watched last week's inauguration, they would have heard the president swear to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” This past month, we have also had numerous local officials take office. In doing so, they also promised to uphold the U.S. and Alabama constitutions. I think there is no better time to remember how our federal constitution came into being.

Few people remember that our Constitution was the not the first this country had in place. Immediately after the Revolutionary War, we had the Articles of Confederation. There were many flaws with this plan so, in 1787, representatives from the different states met for the Federal Convention at the State House in Philadelphia – now known to most people as Independence Hall.

The purpose of the convention was to revise the Articles of Confederation; however, it soon became obvious that rather than amend the Articles, the members of the convention would draft a new frame of government.

Some of the main issues that were debated and discussed included: 1) how much power to allow the central government; 2) how many representatives each state would have in Congress; and 3) how those representatives should be elected. There was much debate over whether representatives should be elected directly by the people or by state legislators.

The Connecticut Compromise created our current two-house Congress. This allowed one house to have proportional representation among the states by population and another house which gave each state equal representation.

The Constitution was submitted to the states for ratification. Some states would only ratify the proposed constitution if amendments that were to become the Bill of Rights were immediately taken up by the new government. Once 11 states had ratified the new constitution, the Articles Congress certified it and elections were held. The new government began on March 4, 1789.

Since the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, 27 amendments have been added including the first 10, which we all know as the Bill of Rights.

There are two ways an amendment can take effect: 1) there must be a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress before the proposed amendment can be submitted to the states and the amendment must then be ratified by three-fourths of the states; or 2) a convention can be called by two-thirds of the states and the proposed amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of the conventions. In other words, it is very difficult to pass an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Constitution is the most influential legal document in U.S. history. It is one of the oldest, and shortest, written constitutions of any major government in the world today. Over 100 countries have used the U.S. Constitution as a guide when writing their own constitutions. Interpretations may differ, but most Americans look upon the U.S. Constitution with pride.