Celebrate Our
Constitution
Constitution Day
September 17
Constitution Day was established in 2004 in an amendment to the Omnibus spending bill by Senator Robert Byrd, who once said, "Our ideals of freedom, set forth and realized in our Constitution, are our greatest export to the world.". The passage of this amendment changed the name of the holiday from "Citizenship Day", and mandated that all publicly funded educational institutions provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution on that day.
Constitution Day is celebrated annually on September 17th to commemorate September 17th, 1787, the day the delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the United States Constitution.
Today is a day for us to learn about the document which still defines the structure of our federal government and delineates the rights of states and individual citizens within our nation.
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.
The Preamble of the United States of America Constitution
Resources
- Download the Constitution
- Online events from the National Constitution Center
- The National Constitution Center provides an online Interactive Constitution
- The National Archives provides biographical information on the 39 signers of the constitution
- Commemorating Constitution Day, from the National Endowment of the Arts and Humanities
- The Constitution: That Delicate Balance - an Emmy Award-winning 13 part series produced in 1984 where key political, legal, and media professionals debate the controversial issues of the American Constitution.