Stretching the Constitution

On page 596, BCOF "the Constitution must be stretched in order to save constitutional government from destruction by the rebellion." This quote struck me when I read it. How many times has the Constitution been "stretched" to save one thing or another. Teaching the Bill of Rights, I stressed the importance of the first amendment and how American's have the right to protest. As my students have been reading about the Civil Rights Movement and the Women's Right to Vote movement in guided reading, several of my groups have had the discussion of how unfair it it that these protesters were arrested and thrown in jail, when the Constitution says they have the right to protest. Hearing these discussions keeps the phrase "stretching the Constitution" running through my mind.