US Constitution... deliberately conservative

Lest ye forget, the US was founded on conservative beliefs...

by Kirk, Russell September 28, 1987 Heritage Lecture #127
(Archived document, may contain errors)

THE CONSTITUTION'S CONSERVATIVE CHARACTER

In the sense that all. constitutions are formed with the purpose of maintaining some sort of political order--or at least in that pretense--all. constitutions are conservative. But the Constitution of the United States, now two centuries old, is especially and deliberately conservative of a social inheritance. Permit me to discuss the subject from three aspects: first, the analysis of the American Constitution by several observers from abroad; second, an examination of the assumptions, interests, and intentions of the Framers; third, the conservative functions of the Constitution today.