Why Community Matters: The Constitution
Community: How were American communities formed?
America was formed through communities that grew into settlements and eventually states. A community is defined as a group of people living and working together but the idea of ‘community’ can also be a feeling, as well as a set of relationships with and among people. People form and maintain communities to meet their needs and support the needs of others. Community members should have a strong sense of trust, belonging, safety, and togetherness. These concepts are the hallmarks of strong community bonds and bridges that were especially pronounced during the American Revolution and during the founding of our nation.
Community members should have an individual as well as a collective understanding of how they can, as part of that community, influence their environment and others within that environment. For the American Patriots and statesmen, their versions of community included their states (and the people), their early governments, as well as the family, and the people living near them.For the early American leaders, “community” consisted of the colonies, now turned states. The American “community” was also, the people living and working to establish the United States of America. The first Americans had just won their independence from the British in the American Revolution. It was now up to them to decide what rules and laws were needed to grow the American community.
