Living in a constitutional republic is something that most of us take for granted. After all, the signing of the U.S. Constitution took place on September 17, 1787. Few other nations can claim such an enduring legacy. The British have the Magna Carta, which was signed by King John at Runnymede in 1215. Still, the United Kingdom has no written constitution. Our Canadian neighbors trace their theirs to an act of the British Parliament in 1867 uniting “the provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick” as “One Dominion under the Name of Canada.” * Canada did not have its own constitution free of British rule until 1982 and it has never been ratified by the government of Québec. Our common roots in the Magna Carta are something worthy of great pride, but the U.S. Constitution ranks with it as one of humanity’s greatest achievements.
I recount this history because Tuesday the 17th is Constitution Day, and I shall honor it by rereading our most important founding document.** Among its greatest strengths is brevity, although the Twenty-Fifth Amendment is a bit wordy. My personal favorites are the Bill of Rights and the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, also known as the Reconstruction Amendments.
Constitution Day is the result of a bill passed by Congress in December 2004 and inspired by the late Californian Louise Leigh “who spoke on university campuses and schools and service clubs and realized how little people know a about the Constitution.” The bill she inspired requires that “each educational institution that receives Federal funds for a fiscal year shall hold an educational program on the United States Constitution on September 17 of such year for the students served by the educational institution.”
I hope that is happening. We have a uniquely rich intellectual tradition in America and our contribution to the advancement of individual liberty and human rights ranks us among the great civilizations of the world. For those who wish to celebrate our Constitution by rereading it, here is a link to the full text. https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/
Happy Constitution Day!
* https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Canada_2011.pdf?lang=en
** https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-story-of-constitution-day-and-citizenship-day