Topic: US Constitution, Amendments, Matches 5 quotes.

Constitutional Amendments

If we are to have a [constitutional] amendment by the will of one man, or of a small group of men, if they can amend the Constitution, then we shall lose the Constitution; because each succeeding person or group who comes into a position of place and power where they can ‘amend’ the charter, will want to amend it again, and so on until no vestige of our liberties shall remain. Thus it comes that an amendment of our Constitution by one person or by one group is a violation of the revealed will of the Lord to the Church, as that will is embodied in that inspired Constitution.—

Brethren, let us think about that, because I say unto you with all the soberness I can, that we stand in danger of losing our liberties, and that once lost, only blood will bring them back; and once lost, we of this Church will, in order to keep the Church going forward, have more sacrifices to make and more persecutions to endure than we have yet known, heavy as our sacrifices and grievous as our persecutions of the past have been.

Source: President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
General Conference, April 1944

Topics: US Constitution, Amendments

Mormonism holds a singular and unique position in the world, claiming as it does to be The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is a creed founded in righteousness, established, in this perfect law of liberty, and it challenges the world to produce anything like the organization which the Lord has revealed, and through which He makes manifest His righteousness and His purposes in the earth. Without this Priesthood, we are told, the power of godliness is not made manifest to men in the flesh.

We mistake greatly if we think that in the struggle for this liberty, in the fighting which began three hundred years ago, and continued during two hundred years—we mistake greatly if we think that that contention and struggle was for the purpose of establishing any particular creed, or branch of the Church. The contention of the Protestants, who protested against the misrule of the Catholic Church, was not that they should establish any particular kind of a church, it was a contention and fight against tyranny; it was a fight for liberty—liberty that they might establish a church, if they chose to do so, or do without one if they chose; but it was for liberty and against oppression. I say all honor to Protestantism. No man shall go before me in honoring that spirit of patriotism which was manifested all through the struggle in the Netherlands, in the low countries, in fighting that terrible oppressor the Duke of Alva, sent by the Spanish government and the Pope—not in the interests of liberty but to crush out the spirit of liberty. But the little thing that the Lord had planted, this desire for liberty, grew in the hearts of the children of men, and it became the great thing in England, as well as in Holland, in Queen Elizabeth’s time, with Sir Francis Drake scouring the seas and capturing the Spanish galleons, with their treasure loads of gold from Peru and Mexico. All that was not that any particular brand of church might be established; that is to say, that they wanted this church or the other church; the fight was—let me tell you again—that liberty should be established, so that men could worship as they pleased, how they pleased, or not worship at all, if they so pleased. The time had not yet come for the Church of Jesus Christ to be established; and all honor, I say, to the Protestant countries and Protestant peoples who caused liberty to become established.

So, a little later, in our own Country, the same fight, the same contention, the same struggle is on—not to establish one church or the other, but for liberty. In Washington’s time, the liberty, which this flag [pointing to the national emblem], now represents was fully accomplished, when there was enacted in our Constitution a full fruition of this fighting and struggling,—in these words: “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, nor abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, nor the right of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.” That being enacted into law and becoming the law of the country, then the liberty that all these people had been fighting for was granted to our country, and became an accomplished fact. Now, when that was accomplished, God Almighty, in His own way, sends forth what? A more perfect law of liberty and righteousness, more perfect than the Constitution of the country itself, in the bringing forth of His Church in these last days, in raising up the Prophet Joseph Smith as He did and instructing him how to prepare this wonderful organization, with the Priesthood of the Son of God as its governing power.

Source: Bishop Charles W. Nibley
General Conference, October 1909

Topics: America, Heritage; Freedom; Freedom, History; US Constitution, Amendments

I consider the government of the United States [the federal government] as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. This results not only from the provision that no law shall be made respecting the establishment or free exercise of religion [the First Amendment], but from that also which reserves to the States the powers not delegated to the United States [the Tenth Amendment]. Certainly, no power to prescribe any religious exercise or to assume authority in any religious discipline has been delegated to the General [federal] Government. It must then rest with the States.

Source: Thomas Jefferson
Memoir, Vol. IV, pp. 103-104, to Samuel Miller on January 23, 1808.

Topics: Freedom, Religious; US Constitution, Amendments

Fundamentals Of Constitution God-given

One of the most important things that we can do for the Church is to stand behind the Constitution of the United States. That does not mean, and no reasoning person would suppose that it meant, that that Constitution may not from time to time be changed as the needs of the people would seem to require. But it does mean that that Constitution should be changed only under the urge of great necessity, and then only in accordance with its great underlying concepts. It does mean that the great fundamental elements of the Constitution are God-given, for he said so. It does mean to me as an individual that the Constitution of the United States and my adherence to it and support of it is a part of my religion.

I have about the Constitution that same sort of conviction that I have about the other doctrines that we are taught, for I believe its precepts are among the doctrines of the Church, and I believe that the Lord will change and modify from time to time those details of its provisions which are ancilliary to its great principles; he will cause us—those who live under it—to modify it in accordance with our needs; but the fundamental principles of it we may not sacrifice.

Source: President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
General Conference, April 1935

Topics: US Constitution, Amendments; US Constitution, Defend; US Constitution, Inspired

The Eighteenth Amendment

Another illustration [of selfishness]: Certain powerful interests in the United States are carrying on an intensive campaign, designed to nullify or eliminate the 18th amendment to the constitution of the United States. Vast amounts of money, it is said, are behind the active but deceptive propaganda to effect this result. And why do some people want the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors again legalized? Once more I assert, selfishness is the dominating motive. Selfishness is at the bottom of all law violation, of depravity, and crime. And if selfishness shall continue as the ruling motive in human affairs, chaos will result. This is the conclusion of the Greetings.

Some people are simple enough to believe that legalizing the manufacture and sale of alcoholic liquors in the United States will bring back prosperity to the country. Are England and Germany prosperous? As well say a man can lift himself by his boot straps. Can a country drink itself into prosperity by imbibing narcotic beverages? Reason stands aghast at such a proposition. And the fact that the governing board of a powerful local organization gives support to such an idea does not rob it of its absurdity. Further, 2.75% beer cannot he made and sold in this country without violation of the 18th amendment, because 2.75% beer is intoxicating, a fact unquestionably established by scientific investigations. (See How to Live p. 366.)

Source: Elder Joseph F. Merrill
General Conference, April 1932

Topics: Selfishness; US Constitution, Amendments

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