| Wm M. Randolph The American Legion Post 593 326 West Legion Dr. Converse, TX 78109 (210) 658-1111 Email: Post593TX@yahoo.com |
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Preamble to the Constitution of The American Legion
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A Bit of History
At
the St. Louis Caucas in May of 1919, the Committee on Constitution
presented a simplified temporary constitution that incorporated the Paris
draft. This constitution defined local units as posts, prescribed a form
of state organization and listed membership criteria. But its greatest
feature went unnoticed at the time.
A subcommittee consisting of John C. Greenaway of Arizona, Hamilton Fish
of New York and George N. Davis of Delaware had spent long evenings
discussing a preamble to the constitution. Each man went into seclusion
the night before the St. Louis Caucus to write a draft of the preamble
that would include the principles on which they had agreed. Early the next
morning, they met to compare their drafts. The version that they adopted
later was adopted by the entire committee and by the caucas. It finally
was adopted at the Convention in November of 1919.
Incredibly, over the years the
preamble has changed only once. In 1942 the word "war" (Great War) was
changed to "wars." (Great Wars)
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