Dr. Harold W. Pease
Two years ago the nation was astounded to learn from a survey conducted of high school seniors in Oklahoma that 23% could not identify the first president of the United States. But wait, their parents apparently aren’t too bright either.
In a survey conducted earlier this year by Newsweek magazine of a random sampling of 1,000 adult Americans, summarized by Andrew Romano, 29% could not identify the name of the current vice president of the United States—Joe Biden. Nine percent could not correctly answer, “What Ocean is on the West Coast of the United States?”—The Pacific. Eighty percent did not know “who was president during World War I”—Woodrow Wilson, and 40% did not know who we fought in World War II—Germany, Italy and Japan. With respect to individuals, 59% could not identify what Susan B. Anthony did—women’s rights activist, and 23% were ignorant of what Martin Luther King Jr. did—civil rights activist (Newsweek, How dumb Are We? By Andrew Romano, March 28, 2011, pp. 56-63).
It gets worse. Seventy-three percent did not know what the main concern of the United States was during the Cold War—the spread of communism. The Cold War ended in 1989 only 22 years ago so most adults lived through it. This makes the ignorance here even more blatant and inexcusable.
Their most startling conclusion is that 38% of American adults would not qualify to be citizens of their own country were they required to pass the same test for U.S. citizenship required of non-citizens.
For me, what the sampling showed of our ignorance of the Constitution was especially appalling. Knowledge of it, and its imposed limitations on the federal government, are absolutely critical to preserving our liberty. So how did the adults do? Amazingly, a third could not identify the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence—July 4th, 1776, and 2/3rds, 65%, could not identify what happened at the Constitutional Convention—the writing of the Constitution. Only 74% of adults could identify the first three words of the Constitution—“We The People.” Sadly, 61% did not know how long a U. S. senator served—six years, and 81% could not identify a single power of the federal government noted in the Constitution. May our Founders and others, who risked their lives for this freedom, forgive us for our ignorance.
Unbelievably, 27% did not know who was in charge of the executive branch of the government—the president, nor did 42% know who would next be in charge should both the president and vice president be unable to serve— the Speaker of the House. A whopping 63% did not know the number of justices on the Supreme Court—nine. Seventy percent were unable to answer, “What is the supreme law of the land?”—The Constitution.
With respect to the difficult three-year struggle to get passage of the U.S. Constitution, 88% could not identify even one of the three authors of The Federalist Papers making ratification possible—James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, or John Jay. Forty-three percent did not know what we call the first 10 amendments to the Constitution—The Bill of Rights, and 94% did not know how many amendments the Constitution has—27. Some 67% amazingly could not identify the economic system in the United States—free enterprise.
The study concluded that we are “imperiled by our ignorance.” How can anyone reason otherwise? As a nation are we constitutionally illiterate? Too bad the study was not done on the 535 members of congress or on the executive branch. Would we find a third of them not qualified to be citizens of their own country as well? Given their neglect in preserving this document as designed by the Founders, I think so.
Dr. Harold Pease is an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He has taught history and political science from this perspective for over 25 years at Taft College.
