Today is Constitution Day, also known as Constitution and Citizenship Day — a day that honors the document that guarantees Americans their essential rights. Since 1787, the Constitution of the United States has served as the basis for all U.S. laws.
Even though we usually refer to today, September 17, as Constitution Day, it’s officially Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. Here’s how we arrived at that….
In 1940, Congress and the President passed a resolution creating “I am an American Day,” observed on the third Sunday in May. In 1952, the holiday was renamed “Constitution Day” and moved to September 17, the day in 1787 that the Constitution was signed. Then, more than 50 years later, in 2004, Congress once again changed the name of the holiday to Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. I referred to the day as a holiday — it’s a federal event, but not a holiday.
Our Constitution calls for three branches of government with equal powers, creating a system commonly known as “checks and balances.” Each branch has power to mitigate the others. Powers not assigned to one of the three branches are left to the individual states.
Delegates at the Constitutional Convention had two options for setting up the framework of the new legislative branch. The Virginia Plan, was supported by larger states and called for representation based on population. The competing New Jersey Plan called for equal representation for each state. The two-house solution, known as the Great Compromise, combines aspects of both plans and is still in use today.
One of the signers of the Constitution, Ben Franklin, had to be carried to and from the Convention meetings due to his poor health, and needed assistance signing the document. Some of the other very important Founding Fathers never actually signed the Constitution — Thomas Jefferson, for example, was away in Paris serving as an ambassador to France.
It’s interesting that “Pennsylvania” is spelled wrong at top in the list of signatories — Pennsylvania is spelled with just one “n.”
Of 11,600 proposed amendments to the Constitution, only 27 have been ratified, making the chance of passing an amendment 0.23% — if you round that down, it’s 0 (zero.)
When the Founders worked on the Constitution together, they quibbled over what the title of the head of government should be. Proposed titles included “His Highness the President of the United States of America and Protector of their Liberties,” “Electoral Highness” and “Excellency.” The delegates finally settled on “The President of the United States of America.”
George Washington said, “The Constitution is the guide which I will never abandon.” All Americans should think that way.
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