December 26, 2025
Dear Editor,
Recently, I taught a lesson for my Constitution class titled “The Constitution Hangs by a Thread.” The lesson was on how fragile our Constitution has become. While the lesson was well-received, several attendees expressed concerns that the lesson would be about Joseph Smith. Not exactly!
Joseph Smith did make that phrase, “the Constitution Hangs by a Thread,” popular. He was correct to say that our Constitution was under threat and that we should do everything we can to protect it. However, the imagery existed long before Joseph Smith.
The story of Hang by a Thread is the story of Damocles, sometimes referred to as the Sword of Damocles.
King Dionysius was a tyrant and dictator in ancient Syracuse. Damocles was a courtier who constantly tried to butter up the tyrant. One day, Dionysius invited Damocles to a lavish banquet, served with the best food, wine, music, and attentive servers. Except, above his assigned chair was a sword, hanging by a single thread.
Many lessons have been drawn from this story. The one that I wanted to convey, and that perhaps Joseph Smith wanted to convey, is this:
Freedom is not free. Damocles was living in a life of luxury–something he did not earn. He simply inherited it. He was born into it. Perhaps, he not quite worthy of it. Because he did not earn it, the life of luxury could be taken from him.
Damocles had a choice: he could pretend that the threat to his life and liberty was not real, and continue with his luxurious lifestyle, or sacrifice his comfort to earn his freedom.
During the time of Joseph Smith, the War of Independence had concluded several decades ago. But we had a brewing crisis with slavery, with the South threatening secession. And ultimately, the Civil War.
Today, we have a nation divided, infiltration with terrorist values, and immorality posing as justice and fairness. These values threaten our civilization and the Constitution of our nation. My Constitution class just concluded “The 5000 Year Leap and the 26 Ideals That Changed the World.” I added some timeless teachings from Oliver DeMille to form the lesson material for “The Constitution Hangs by a Thread,” to spotlight the importance of our Constitution.
Art and Shannon da Rosa
Rigby, Idaho
