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The constitution. Everybody has heard of it but what exactly is it? It runs our country. It states all the laws. By now your probably thinking, oh wow, the constitution is probably just another boring topic in history class. Did it occur to you that life would be differnet for you without the constitution? If your a women you probably wouldn't be sitting in a classroom right now or sitting at work. If your african american than you would probably still be enslaved. The constitution has helped so many different type of people. Its pretty hard to imagine that a group of men centuries ago could create a document that would later help with these unimagined situations - womens rights, and the fight against slavery. But nonetheless the document did. Al Gore previous presidential candidate stated that the constitution was living and breathing. It that true? Is it even possible that a piece of paper could have lungs or be human? Nope, but many people believe that the constitution is very much alive in other ways.

We decided to do a little experiment. What do teachers at our school feel about the statement that the constitution is living and breathing. It was defenitley an interesting experiment because not one but, every single teacher said that the constitution was living and breathing. We asked 7th grade social studies & history teacher Ms. Lowe and her opinion was that the constitution was very much alive, and since the constitution is constantly being changed according to political situations and being reviewed by the supreme court. She also considered the constution an extremely flexible document since it has applied today to events that were unimaginable when it was written.

Mr. Andreson S.T.E.P. teacher here at our school believed that the constitution was also a living and breathing document today but he had mix feelings about the way that it was being interrupted. For example, the law in the constitution about free speech. That everybody has the right to free speech. This is interpreted to mean that racist groups are allowed to speak freely about how they feel. Mr. Andreson also feels that the constitution is too living and breathing. This is because smetimes the constitution is over intupritated so he would like the constitution to go back closer to it's original version.

Mr Austin, 7th grade English teacher feels similar to Mr. Andreson. He believes that the document has changed through the times, but the interpretation of the constitution today is sometimes stretched. He stated the fouding fathers did a magnificent job at thinking through the rights in the constitution, but he would reconsider the modern interpretation by the courts.

Our last opinion was by seventh grade social studies teacher, Mr. Nuzzo. Like the past two teachers he agrees with the flaw in modern interpretation of the constitution. He also agrees that the constitution had a flaw in allowing slavery to slip through in the 1800's but also believes it it is living and breathing and that is due to the exceptional job the writers of the constitution did.

Other teachers don't like the wording of the constitution, it is to old fashion for them. All our interviewees agreed that ammendments were vital to America's growth as a country. The ammendments allowed the constitution to change with the times of the United States and become flexible. One teacher, Ms. Dooley reminded us of the women's right ammendment added to the constitution a while ago. That was really important because now women are able to do many more things that they weren't allowed to do back then. In all, the teachers described the constitution as a living, breathing document with flexibility that has changed - like people - through the times our country has gone through. They don't always agree with how the constitution is living and breathing today, like how it is interpreted by the courts & how sometimes its modern interpretation. This almost makes the constitution more loving and breathing because like any person it has a few flaws.

In Conclusion, everyone has their different feelings about the constitution, but we feel strongly that the constitution is living and also breathing. How do we know this? What is the evidence that the constitution is living and breathing? We believe that enough evidence of this is simply that the constitution is still here with us today and still governing our country, also that the constitution was able to govern our country well throughout the years despite the time. Like a person, it was able to adapt to different situations and change depending on what was going on around it. Through adding ammendments it was also able to grow and change like a person. Finally, it was able to be loved by a whole country of people and people have come to trust the constitution which makes it very living and breathing.