On this day in 1787 the Constitutional Convention commenced in Philadelphia. It would last nearly four months. George Washington, former general of the Continental Army, was elected to preside over an ambitious convention attended by delegates from the thirteen former colonies that had prevailed over the most powerful navy and army in the world. Their goal? To draft the Constitution. A document unlike any before establishing a nation to be governed by its citizens under the rule of law, not by a king or a ruler proclaiming edicts.

Since then, 656,000 Americans have given their lives to preserve and defend the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the rule of law. That is why we honor the solemn day of Memorial Day.

Those 656,000 had dreams, plans, aspirations for their lives. They left behind countless shattered lives. Moments of silence, flowers on graves, flags flying, family barbeques are all simple ways to remember, give tribute, but the true means by which they should be honored is to believe in what they died for. Freedom, the sanctity of the rule of law, and the Constitution.

Those ideals are stronger than allegiances to temporal partisan politics. They are convictions that cannot be squared with compensation to convicted felons that sought to overturn democracy, breach the capitol, and assault police. Those felons were convicted by a jury of their peers under the law after the presentment of evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, not simply by some wrongful prosecutor. That’s the rule of law, not lawfare. History cannot be rewritten; it can only be learned from.

Today is a day for every American to focus back on what Memorial Day is, why the defense of democracy, the rule of law, and the Constitution matter, and why those that gave their lives to protect and enshrine these principles should be honored. It’s more than flying a flag and a barbeque…although I’ll do both today.