February 8, 2012
Dear Founders, Signers and Framers:
Gentlemen:
When I initially began to write to you, I did so with two objectives in mind. The first was to keep you informed on how we are progressing and following your advice in keeping this great country, which you established, going strong. Second was to learn from our history, good or bad and to take advantage of your wisdom and instill a sense of pride in all our accomplishments. Right about now you are all probably wondering what the hell are these people doing. President Adams, I think your quote expressed all the hopes, and aspirations which you Gentlemen strove for and risked so much for, it even included a warning to all of us.
“Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven, that I ever took the pains to preserve it.”
It is obvious to me that we are not making very good use of all the hard work you Gentlemen did and I feel the reason for this is that many do not know enough about our history and all that was done and sacrificed by you Gentlemen for us. I would agree with Mr. Noah Webster, a Federalist writer known as the “Father of American Scholarship and Education:
“Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country.”
On the Education of Youth in America, 1788
I particularly like the part of your quote Mr. Webster where you stress the need to rehearse the history of our own country, a history which in my opinion began in 1776. Anything before that was not United States history. It was what I will call European Colonization History, a history that did not live up to our ideals but was influenced by England, France and Spain in their conquest and colonization of the Americas. Although our history began in 1776, I feel it really came all together in 1788 with the ratification of the United States Constitution, a document which you Gentlemen out did yourselves in creating.
I will now be writing to you Gentlemen, the Founders, Signers and Framers with my opinions on your work in an attempt to educate and “rehearse” our history. I will begin by writing a series of letters to you on the U.S. Constitution which has endured for over 230 years and now even has its own museum in Philadelphia, just a short walk from where you The Framers toiled and compromised to create this marvelous document which is unlike any document ever created. I will break down The Constitution from the Preamble, to the Articles and Amendments and I hope to show the true genius of you Gentlemen and this document. I also hope to show the need for this document and how it is now more important than ever that we preserve and protect it for our posterity. I can only hope that I do you and this document the justice it deserves.
Sincerely,
Andrew DeMarco
Pelham, NY
Pen Pals from the Past 