TIFTON—Georgia Court of Appeals Judge John Ellington emphasized the importance of a document signed 228 years ago at the annual Constitution Day event at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College on Thursday.

“The ideas on which America was founded are embodied in the Constitution,” Ellington told a full house of ABAC students in the Chapel of All Faiths. “America’s founding fathers knew the Constitution was not a perfect document so they created a way to amend it.

“In some countries, if you have the biggest gun or the biggest stick, you win the argument. In our country, we come to court armed with the Constitution and the laws of our land.”

Ellington said when the 39 men signed the Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787 in Philadelphia, they set the stage for a quality of life that still exists today.

“The quality of life in any country depends on the quality of the judicial system,” Ellington, a 1980 ABAC graduate, said. “Our system of justice separates us from every other country on earth. We settle our disputes peacefully at the courthouse.”

The Constitution is the oldest and shortest national constitution in existence today. Abraham Baldwin, the namesake for Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, and William Few were the only Georgia signers of the 4,543-word document.

Ellington was the student body president and the winner of the prestigious Donaldson Award when he was a student at ABAC from 1978 through 1980.

“I spent two of the best years of my life on this campus,” Ellington said. “What you learn inside these classrooms is important. What you learn outside the classroom is also important. The friends you make and the people you meet at ABAC will have a lifetime impact.

“The values that we have on this campus travel with you. I am glad to see that the college is continuing to carry out its mission of preparing students for life. ABAC is more than a college. It’s a way of life.”

ABAC Release