I’m not planning anything, I promise!
But I was reading another post on here, and got to wondering what would happen if the physical original was destroyed?
I’m assuming there’s enough copies codified that it obviously wouldn’t matter – I mean, if the law couldn’t outlast an artifact, I don’t think that law was very strong to begin with.
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Well, one important heritage of the USA would be destroyed. But that’s it. Nothing would change legally.
There is more than one “original.” 13 is the known amount.
Not to make a tautology, but the physical Constitution is just the physical form of the Constitution. The verbiage of the Constitution is the “real” Constitution and it can’t be destroyed.
Destroying the Constitution would eliminate the magic spells it contains that keep the ghost of George III at bay. This would trigger the “Presidential Contingency,” where the Washington Monument would release the ghost of George Washington to save us all. We can only pray that Mecha-Lincoln is ready when that day comes.
Or, you know, nothing at all.
A bunch of people at the National Archives would be fired and the FBI would open a case to find and prosecute the person responsible for vandalism. That’s about it.
Nic Cage goes to Prison.
We spark from our ears and lean forward (about 30°) at the waist, let our arms dangle in front of us and shout “Malfunction!” in a flat voice.
The Union will fall apart and all land will be returned to previous owners. Russia will gain Alaska, France will find they now control the Louisiana territory, Britain will have 13 more colonies, Texas and Hawaii will gain independence, Spain will get Florida and the territories, the land from the Mexican cession and Gadsden purchase will go to Mexico, and parts of Maine and the Midwest will go to Canada.
Nothing.
The US will be destroyed instantly. But it can only be destroyed in the Fires of Mouth Doom. Or prolonged exposure to moisture.
OP discovers one simple trick to end the U.S. government.
Honestly, nothing would change except a lost national treasure.
AFAIK there are several physical copies of the orginal.
Also most libraries have copies of the thing.
It doesn’t magically stop being the law if the magic scroll is destroyed.
What gives the Constitution any power is that human beings believe in it and act as if it’s true.
We’re in a big experiment to see if humans can make a set of principles and laws their ruler or if humans gravitate towards faces and personalities instead.
I think “Principles before Personalities” or “We follow Ideas, not Men” is a good idea, myself.
I may not be in the majority there.
George Washington will rise from the grave, personally tar and feather the perpetraitors(s) responsible, and with the ghosts of the rest of the founders, re-draft a perfect copy in a secret lab deep in Washington D.C.
Unfortunately that would mean we have to rejoin the UK
If I recall correctly the Constitution, DoI, and other documents in the archives immediately drop into a vault far below ground in the case of attack/nuclear war.
You’ll never get your hands on them!
iirc we default back to a British colony
People would be very angry that a symbol of the United States got destroyed.
The constitution is a living document
The peace of paper it was written on doesn’t even have the amendments on
You’re just a screenwriter for the next National Treasure movie aren’t you?
The US Constitution is simply the written record of our supreme law. There are multiple copies, and it’s even digital at this point.
Data and ideas can’t be destroyed.
Nothing would change
But the person or persons behind it would be in for a rough rest of their lives however long that might be.
They would put everyone that asked a question like this on a list.
We’d shoot Nicholas Cage.
I’ll be coming over personally to collect back taxes you owe us……
*NSA taking notes*
But seriously, whoever did it is gonna get in big trouble for destroying an important cultural artifact, even if we have multiple copies. Not much else, though
There are other copies… it would just be a shame if the original wasn’t there anymore.
The country just fails because that’s the sacred texts!
Then there will be 1 fewer horcrux
The app on my phone becomes the official Constitution.
The British invade
It’ll be just like in ‘the Last of Us’ but without the fungal zombies. The scattered communities of survivors will be going around shooting each other with bolt-action deer rifles to conserve ammo.
Agent Dark Brandon gets activated to bring the perpetrators to justice
There’s plenty of copies
The physical constitution is more or less a historical relic these days. The information on it is already archived in multiple forms so it’s basically impossible to destroy the constitution as a political document. Really, if the physical constitution were destroyed it would mostly just be the destruction of a significant historical artifact.
The validity of any law, including the US Constitution, isn’t reliant on the original physical copy being intact. Legal paperwork isn’t made invalid just by destroying a copy of it.
The National Archives specifically keeps many records of the Constitution (and there are countless millions of copies of it in circulation). Our laws and regulations are similarly copied many times over.
The USA would cease to exist. If the original copy of the Articles of Confederation still exist, then we revert to that form of government. If the Articles of Confederation have been destroyed, then we revert to being a colony of Great Britain.
A more pressing issue is preserving the documents in as close to their original state as possible. Paper isn’t necessarily meant to last for all eternity. The Declaration of Independence already has significant fading. The National Archives have very strict rules in the room where they are displayed regarding lighting and flash photography. Behind the scenes they’re working hard to slow aging as much as they can
At long last, the curse will be broken and we will be free!
Found Nicolas Cage’s reddit profile lol
Nothing would happen.
Considering the search term “full text of the U.S. Constitution” generates 368,000,000 results and I know I have two copies of the Constitution and Bill of Rights in my house, I think we’re good on codification. But as a symbol…I would not want to be the dude that destroyed it.