Coming up Saturday, Sept. 17, is Constitution Day. Constitution Day became a National Holiday with the passing of the Omnibus Spending Bill of 2004. It is also called “Constitution Day and Citizenship Day.”
Senator Robert Byrd proposed the amendment to the spending bill which created the special day. Citizenship Day had existed on its own since Feb. 29, 1952, when a bill, signed by President Harry S. Truman, became law.
Citizenship Day was preceded by “I Am An American Day.” That holiday was advocated by newspaperman William Randolph Hearst and created by the U.S. Congress in 1940.
Today the holiday is often simply called “Constitution Day.” It honors the U.S. Constitution and the 39 men who signed it on Sept. 17, 1787. The Constitution celebrates its 235th birthday this year.
The first state to actually ratify the Constitution was Delaware. Nicknamed “The First State,” Delaware ratified the document on Dec. 7, 1787. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island followed. It was May 29, 1790, before Rhode Island became the 13th state to ratify the Constitution.
The amendment which created Constitution Day, calls for all federal agencies to provide each of their employees with information about the U.S. Constitution on September 17th.
In May of 2005, the U.S. Department of Education announced the law would apply to any school receiving federal dollars. This means, for all practical purposes, all public-school children receive educational information about the Constitution each year on September 17th.
When the holiday falls on a weekend, as it does this year, the adjacent day becomes the national holiday for schools and government agencies. But all of us can celebrate on Saturday the 17th.
How can we celebrate? One way is to fly or display the flag of the United States.
Another way is to read or recite the Preamble to the Constitution. Those first 52 words of the Constitution took the Framers some six weeks to write. Those words are:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and Secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Finally, celebrating Constitution Day is as easy as ringing a bell! The Desire Tobey Sears Chapter NSDAR invites all to join in ringing a bell at 4 p.m., on September 17th to celebrate Constitution Day and the 235th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution of the United States.
Reader Comments(0)