Revolutions. Leitz Bellows II, Elmar-V 65mm

In the days when I used to write letters by hand, and mail cheques, I would buy books of stamps at the Post Office.  As I used up the books, I saved an example in a little tin.  Two of them came to light today, from 1987 and 1989.
The French Revolution had been under way for some years when the thirteen American Colonies broke away from Britain in 1776.  This action was intensely inspiring to the French, who had sent troops to help out during the Revolutionary War. 
This brand new country of ours, and its Constitution of 1787, represented the first Democracy of the modern era, drawing deeply on the Enlightenment ideas of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.  It is a brilliant document, conceived by brilliant men, but it was the first, and, - like the first pancake -, it wasn't perfect. The Framers considered so many eventualities, but they overlooked one:  that a convicted felon could be eligible to be President of the United States.  Perhaps it was just incomprehensible to them that a person of low moral character would not be weeded out by 18th century societal norms. 
But here we are, 248 years later, forced to entertain the possibility that, in the next few years, the Constitution may be suspended, our Experiment in Democracy failed.  We pray that it not be so, and that we remain A Nation of Laws.