When the Founding Fathers of the United States gathered in the summer of 1787 their intent was to define and establish a federal government that operated solely by power derived from, and with the objective of serving, the people. This brand of idealism was not necessarily unique in this time; however, according to Dallin H. Oaks, the functional implementation of a national constitution was an antecedent to every other written constitution in the world. The approach of Latter-day Saints in deconstructing, understanding, and implementing the Constitution of the United States has been enriched by our cognizance of its divine origination, applicability to our modern occasion, and its ability to be augmented for the sole purpose of serving those for whom it was created- the people. President Ezra Taft Benson, a renowned government official and leader within the LDS Church, testified of his belief that the Constitution was divinely inspired in an address to BYU students in September of 1986. “I reverence the Constitution of the United States as a sacred document. To me its words are akin to the revelations of God, for God has placed his stamp of approval on the Constitution of this land” (Benson 7). Evaluating the Constitution through the lens of divine inspiration does not necessarily qualify the text as scriptural. In fact, this might be considered antithetical to the plight of revolutionaries in implementing the free practice of religion. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize the impact this belief in divine inspiration will have for Latter-day Saints in interpreting the Constitution. The Constitution is considered to be the supreme law of the land, but it is also considered to be malleable by several leaders of the Church. In Lincoln’s second state of the union ad>