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 Way Back When
Constitution Day
published: September 2006
By Joy G. Kirkpatrick
Email Author
Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
We The People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this, Constitution for the United States of America.
Way back when, on September 17, 1787, the Constitution was signed by 39 of the 55 Founding Fathers at the final meeting of the Constitutional Convention. These delegates had gathered almost daily for five months to create the document designed to define and separate clearly the powers of the central government, the powers of the states, the rights of the people and how the representatives of the people should be elected. After signing it in September of 1787, Congress sent printed copies of the Constitution to the state legislatures for ratification.
The United States Constitution contains seven articles which cover the Legislative branch, the Executive Branch, the Judicial Branch, the States, the Amendment Process, the legal status of the Constitution and the Signatures of the delegates. It also contains Amendments One through Ten, which are called The Bill of Rights, and Amendments 11-27.
President George W. Bush signed a bill (public law 108-447) on December 8, 2004, which designates every September 17 as Constitution Day. The bill suggests a Constitutional Education Program on that day. However, an organization called Constitution Day, Inc., has been celebrating for the past 10 years with the simultaneous recitation of the Preamble every September 17.
This year, on Monday, September 18, General Colin Powell will recite the Preamble. The previous national figures who have led the Preamble have been President George Bush Sr., U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, Chief Justice of Alabama Roy Moore, Governor of Pennsylvania Edward Rendell and General Tommy Franks. The celebration will begin at 11 A.M. Pacific/12 Noon Mountain/1 P.M. Central/2 P.M. Eastern time. To celebrate Constitution Day, wear red, white and blue to school on this day and feel free to ring bells in celebration after the Preamble is recited.
Bells will also be ringing from the carillon at the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, PA, where George Washington fought the Revolutionary War.
For more information about Constitution Day, visit www.loc.gov, www.constitutionday.com or www.bensguide.gpo.gov.
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