Today, the newly inaugurated 112th Congress spent the opening hours of their second day in session reciting the Constitution. In truth, the entirety of the founding document has never been read on the House floor. So for the first time the words of each article and every amendment rang through the Capitol.

In 1787, the delegates of the constitutional convention gathered in Philadelphia to ratify a document that would lay the foundation for establishing the freest and most powerful nation in the history of the world. The Constitution established the framework for government by defining its role in order to prevent it from infringing upon the rights of the people. More simply, the Constitution grants the federal government a limited role in the lives of America’s citizens and for too long, Congress has ignored those limits.

The American people sent a loud message that they are tired of unfettered federal growth in Washington and the ever-increasing reach of government beyond its Constitutional boundaries. Republicans have since pledged to honor the Constitution; particularly the Tenth Amendment, which grants all powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

By reading the Constitution, House Republicans highlighted the limited-government principles they wish to restore to the city upon a hill and sent a message to Americans that they will judge any policy in the upcoming Congress against the precepts of the Constitution.