our own constitution<\/a>, which is unique in many ways but is strongly influenced by the federal constitution, as you can see from this passage: \u201cThe state of New Mexico is an inseparable part of the federal union, and the constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land.\u201d<\/p>\nUnder our state constitution, as state attorney general, I serve as head of the state\u2019s department of justice and function as the state\u2019s chief legal officer, legal counsel to state government and generally enforce the laws of New Mexico. The knowledge I have about the U.S. and state constitutions helps me a great deal in my profession as a lawyer and my position as attorney general.<\/p>\n
To learn about the U.S. Constitution is to learn about the N.M. Constitution because of the similarities, while the differences present a fascinating look into the history of America and the development of our state as part of the federal union.<\/p>\n
Clearly, it is a good idea to learn about the legal formats upon which our nation and state are based and, even more importantly, we should encourage future generations to study and learn about them too.<\/p>\n
A few facts<\/strong><\/p>\nWith that in mind, here are a few things to know about the U.S. Constitution:<\/p>\n
\u2022 It is the topmost law of the land, even higher than state constitutions.<\/p>\n
\u2022 It is the owner\u2019s manual for how government works, setting up the three branches of government — the executive, legislative and judiciary branches.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The U.S. Supreme Court and our Congress are created in the document.<\/p>\n
\u2022 It can be changed by \u201camendments\u201d agreed upon by Congress and the states.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The first 10 amendments to the Constitution are called the Bill of Rights, and they were added in 1791.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, was not passed until 1920.<\/p>\n
One cohesive, national society<\/strong><\/p>\nWhy is the U.S. Constitution important? I think one reason is because it established freedoms, rights, a framework for government and a way of living for a country that are still enjoyed more than 200 years after it was signed by the founders. Some things are built to last.<\/p>\n
The Constitution of the United States proves that out of many different peoples, interests and desires, one cohesive, national society can be created. The document gave the founders the unity and stability they wanted as a nation while safeguarding the rights and liberties of states and individuals.<\/p>\n
This is accomplished in the Constitution by a system of checks and balances that prevent any one element from gaining too much power. There is an old saying about not having to learn how to build a watch in order to know what time it is; however, when it comes to living in the best country in the world, it\u2019s kind of fun to learn how it was set up so many years ago.<\/p>\n
The founders designed a national government that to this day depends upon the participation and involvement of its citizens. The ideas written into the U.S. Constitution are important to understanding what it means to be an American.<\/p>\n
By celebrating Constitution Day, we remind all citizens that participating in our democracy not only preserves our freedom and liberty, but in these uncertain times, it bolsters our national pride and gives us a sense that, no matter what the future brings, we will face it together as a nation.<\/p>\n
King<\/em><\/a> is New Mexico\u2019s attorney general.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Constitution of the United States proves that out of many different peoples, interests and desires, one cohesive, national society can be created. The document gave the founders the unity and stability they wanted as a nation while safeguarding the rights and liberties of states and individuals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,16],"tags":[107,116],"class_list":["post-5466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-guest-columns","tag-roundhouse","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Guest](\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/Guest-column3.jpg\" "\\"Guest")
<\/p>\n![\"King,](\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/King-Gary.jpg\" "\\"King,")
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