Imagine playing a game in which the referee changes the rules halfway through the contest. A move that was allowed a minute ago now earns a penalty or a foul. The written rules have not changed. Only the referee’s reading of them has.
Most of us would call that unfair. When the rules govern a nation rather than a game, the stakes are much higher.
At Convention of States Foundation, we believe that the Constitution’s meaning should guide those who hold power, not shift to suit their wishes. That is why originalism is one of our core values.
Start With What the Words Meant
Originalism asks a simple question: What did the Constitution’s words mean to the public when they were ratified? This approach is called “original public meaning.” It seeks to understand the text as people would have understood it when they approved, or ratified, it.
That means beginning with the words themselves, then looking at historical sources to understand their use. Dictionaries, legal writings, and public debates from the time can help explain what a phrase meant. The goal is not to guess what one Founder privately wanted. It is to understand the words that the people agreed to live under.
The same rule applies to amendments. Each amendment must be understood in light of its own text and the time when it became law, not just the Founding era.
Think of it as keeping a promise. Before we can honor it, we need to know what was promised.
Old Principles Can Address New Problems
Originalism does not mean that America must live as it did in the 1700s. A fixed meaning is not the same as a frozen world.
Consider freedom of speech. Americans now speak through websites and smartphones, tools that the Founders, for all their genius, could have never imagined. The originalist question is how the Constitution’s protection applies to those new tools, not whether the Founders used them. The principle stays in place while the facts change.
That work is not always easy. Historical evidence can be incomplete, and originalists can disagree about what it shows. Originalism offers a standard for testing an answer, not a promise that every case will be simple.
For COSF, the point is to approach the Constitution with respect and care. We should ask what its words require before asking whether we like the result.
Why Stable Meaning Matters
The Constitution is the foundation of our work to restore limited government, protect individual rights, and uphold federalism: the division of power between the federal and state governments.
Those goals depend on limits that mean something beyond the next election.
If officials can twist the Constitution’s meaning to match today’s goals, a written limit can become a moving target. A power denied yesterday may be claimed tomorrow without any change to the text. Originalists argue that this gives interpreters too much room to replace the people’s choices with their own.
That concern reaches beyond any one party. A new reading that helps your side today may help the other side tomorrow. Rights need a firmer foundation than whoever happens to hold office.
Change the Constitution Through the Constitution
A lasting Constitution still needs a way to change. Article V provides it.
Amendments can be proposed by two-thirds of both houses of Congress. They can also be proposed through a convention that Congress must call upon applications from two-thirds of the state legislatures. Either route requires ratification by three-fourths of the states before a proposed amendment becomes part of the Constitution.
This distinction is significant: Applying the Constitution and changing it are different tasks. Originalism respects that line. When change is needed, Article V offers a path built into the document itself.
Constitutional education helps citizens understand both government’s powers and its limits. It also helps us use the tools entrusted to us.