
Our forefathers created a masterpiece to help run the United States, but the government has not updated it in years. From fighting Great Britain in 1787 to choosing which president in 2016, the times have changed drastically. When they first created the Constitution, the founding fathers were trying to create something to help create unity within the newfound country, but they only considered white men (above the age of eighteen). At the time, they were not expecting a universe with problems involving gay marriage, women getting equal pay, or even African Americans having the same amount of rights as the average white man and those are just a few of the changes since 1787. In the work “The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation,” the authors/ artists, Jonathon Hennessey and Aaron McConnell, depict two different compasses to show the audience that the times have changed, so maybe the Constitution needs some updating.

The authors want to show the audience how the times have changed, so they chose to represent the differences by comparing the ways people stretch their boundaries. In the first frame, there is a picture of a compass with cobwebs on it and a key. The colors in the picture are almost like an old newspaper with a vintage touch. In the second frame, the compass changed into a GPS. The frame has more color and other touches of more current things such as the yellow taxi and skyscrapers. As opposed to a wood background in the first frame, the viewer can see a brick building which was not common years ago when the forefathers wrote the Constitution. The author is trying to show a different representation for people to be able to understand the concepts of the Constitution in a more modern sense. The first frame’s text connections with the second frame because the first frame says “… reflect a wildly different moral universe…” and then the second frame finishes by saying “…than the one we live in today” (203). The second frame shows what it is like today contrasting what it was like in 1787 making the text even more relevant. Compared to the other frames, these pictures are smaller, but they have a big message within them. Now comparing the two frames themselves, they have two different color schemes: vintage and colorful. The first frame is not a very complicated picture since it only contains the compass and some cobwebs while the second frame has multiple elements within it showing the updates between 1787 and now. 

The pictures have very literal meanings to them, but they also have more to them than just that times have changed. The authors are trying to show that times have changed, so maybe the Constitution should change too since it does not represent everyone anymore. When they first created the document, they favored white males because they viewed women as house servants, and African Americans were slaves. Now everyone is equal, so it begs the question, does the Constitution still have the same effect for everyone and not just the forefathers? Life has changed directions thanks to modern day technology. Actual compasses have become obsolete because now there are GPS’s and cell phones that make it easier to go new places. People are able to surpass the restrictions now because of the new technology created. Compasses urge a sense of adventure and a desire to look for new things/ places. This also taps into childhood memories since children always use compasses to figure out which way to go, or a memory of a family vacation going into the mountains/ camping. 

The compasses have connections to elements inside and outside of the work although they are important by themselves. The unstated assumptions are that the government might need to update their documents because the times have changed with new technology which causes new problems. The other frames also show the then and now concept on page 203. For example, the frames underneath the navigational tools show when the Constitution was first created to now (203). There is American Indians in the first picture and others who the leaders prohibited from being equal in the “free” nation, but now everyone is equal which the artists showed by having the flag come out of the safe. This picture ties into the first two pictures because it helps clarify who was oppressed, but now in the modern world, they are slowly becoming just as equal as everyone else. 

The authors chose the image of a compass in order to show how the times have changed, and people can go in whatever direction they chose. There is a new era with new technological advances causing people to have more accessibility to document information and updates in the world. Also there are new ideas and concepts that have changed throughout history causing new ideas that should be included in the Constitution. The authors want to connect the audience with the ideas that maybe the Constitution worked in 1787, but maybe now, with all of the updates, it is time for change. In the end, the pictures show the varying differences between then and now which shows that the government might need to look at the Constitution and make some changes in order to have equal rights for all of the people who were not originally taken into consideration when the founding fathers first wrote the document.
