Page:Back to the Republic.djvu/52

 They gave Socrates the cup of hemlock for philosophy now taught in our universities.

They crucified Christ, who came to lead the way and set the standard of right living for all mankind.

The light finally dawned; the truth, although "crushed to earth," finally prevailed, and ultimately the importance of the work of the men who founded the republic will be recognized and understood. There is no reason to suppose that the framers of the Constitution realized the full significance of their work. The ultimate purport of many of our greatest discoveries was not fully revealed until long after the discoverers passed over the great divide.

So the framers of the Constitution, though they knew that they had conscientiously provided a form of government better suited than any other possible form to the need of their country, probably did not fully realize that they, too, had made a discovery of universal import. There is no evidence that they were conscious of having