Spontaneous Toasts to the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 given by Chief Justice Marshall, BBA President, Edward P. Leibensperger, MBA President-Elect Mark Mason and Federal District Court Judge George O'Toole

Following the 3:00 PM scholarly discussion, approximately 200 people gathered in the Great Hall of the John Adams Courthouse, the new home of the Supreme Judicial Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court and the Social Law Library, to toast the Constitution of 1780.

The Director of the Social Law Library, Robert Brink, served as emcee of reception and, with a note of historical irony, quoted a glum John Adams two centuries ago:

“Popularity was never my mistress nor was I ever, or shall I ever be, a popular man. …. Mausoleums, statutes, and monuments will never be erected to me. I wish them not…… Panegyrical romances will never be written,…… nor flattering orations spoken …. to transmit me to posterity in brilliant colors. ….. No, nor in true colors.” Wherever you are John Adams, Robert Brink advised, sit back and listen to posterity's praise!

At the conclusion of her remarks, Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall of the Supreme Judicial Court asked the 200 people in attendance to “stand and toast the Massachusetts Constitution!" Her toast is worth repeating:

"Please also take a moment to commit to sharing the story of its creation and significance with others, particularly young people. We all share in an obligation to work to ensure that future generations will revere the Constitution and form of government it created. As John Adams rhetorically asked in his inauguration as the second President of the United States, ‘What other form of government, indeed, can so well deserve our esteem and love?' To the Massachusetts Constitution!”

After Chief Justice Marshall 's toast, Boston Bar President Edward P. Leibensperger called out from the audience and spontaneously offered a toast to John Adams, the principal author of the Constitution of 1780 and the founder of the Boston Bar Association, who left us our cherished legacy of a government of laws and not of men!

The President-Elect of the Massachusetts Bar Association, Mark D. Mason, jumped-in to toast “to the people from around the state who had a very vigorous voice in the development of the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780.  The Berkshire Constitutionalists insisted on having a written constitution, Concord was the first to call for a constitutional convention, Attleboro and others insisted it should be ratified by the people! Years before John Adams put these notions into timeless prose, the people of Massachusetts , from every corner of the Commonwealth, understood and insisted on the first principles of constitutional government. The Massachusetts Constitution coined the phrase “we the people” …. and the people of Massachusetts lived up to it. So let's toast the people of Massachusetts – North, East, South and West – for their singular role in devising the oldest constitution in the western world! “

Then, Federal District Court Judge George A. O'Toole, Jr., emerged from the audience with a humorous toast that noted that John Adams was a blend of erudition and ….. ego. To Paraphrase:

“I made the constitution of Massachusetts,” Judge O'Toole quoted Adams as saying, “which finally made the Constitution of the United States.” Couldn't he have said “we made the constitution?,” the judge quipped to great laughter. But Adams's exaggeration was forgivable because no other state constitution had a greater influence on those in Philadelphia that framed the United States Constitution! Remember the bumper sticker saying:"Don't blame me - I'm from Massachusetts"? When it comes to constitution-writing, we might turn that slogan around with Adams proudly saying to our fellow Americans: "Give us the credit - we're from Massachusetts." here's to the Constitution of 1780!

Pulitzer Prize winning Professor Gordon Wood and Social Law Library Trustee, John Henn of Foley, Hoag.

Superior Court Judge Nonnie S. Burnes and David L. Yas, publisher of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.

Appeals Court Judge Gary S. Katzmann and Yale Law School Professor Akhil Reed Amar.