Constitution Day: Holiday and History
You’ve put away your fireworks and your flags. The Fourth of July celebrations are long gone. But don’t fret, there is another holiday to please patriotic folks and proud Americans. You may not get the day off and there may not be any picnics, but get ready for Constitution Day on September 18th, 2006.
The Preamble to the United States Constitution will be recited by General Colin Powell on Monday, September 18, 2006, at 2PM (Eastern Standard Time). Schools, companies and individuals can participate by watching the live ceremony on the official Constitution Day web site or You may participate by viewing the live ceremony from this web site or the recitation may be downloaded for use.
The Constitution
1. n. system of fundamental principles according to which a nation, state, or society is governed.
2. n. the written set of fundamental principles by which the United States is governed.
Basic principles embedded in the Constitution include a government created by and for the people, a government guided not by a person or group of people, but by laws, and through separation of powers and a system of checks and balances.
By the People, For the People, otherwise known as popular sovereignty is at the heart of the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution is based on the idea that the people have political authority rather than having that authority in the hands of the government or in one person. The concept of popular sovereignty originated with philosophers John Locke (1632-1704), Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Popular sovereignty was a departure from the other forms of government such as Absolute monarchy and Political absolutism.
But what was the best way to keep political authority in the hands of the people? A set of written and laws. The idea that the government’s authority is only legitimate when it is in accordance with publicly-disclosed, adopted, written and enforced laws is called Rule of Law. The basic idea behind Rule of Law is that when individuals and the government both adhere to a set of rules rather than to a group of people, authoritarian rule is less likely. This was just another way the framers of the U.S. Constitution found to safeguard individual liberties and rights.
Originally, when the Constitution was submitted for ratification by the states, did not contain a reference to individual rights.
The Bill of Rights, or the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. It is the Bill of Rights that protects freedom of assembly, press, religion and speech, the right to bear arms, and rights protecting those accused of crimes.
Separation of Powers An inherent safeguard of the Constitution to keep government from having too much authority was the creation of three separate branches of government: executive, judicial and legislative. This ensured that the power did not lie solely with one branch. It was Montesquieu who suggested that political power be divided into the current branches we have today. The benefits of this system are that each branch has its own powers and areas of responsibilities, and each can check up on the other branches and limit their powers when appropriate. This is where the idea of checks and balances arose.
Ratification
In addition to the live recitation of the Preamble, a roll call of the 50 states will be called in the order that the stated ratified the Constitution. In some cases a state’s order may reflect when it was admitted to the Union. Where will your state fall? Will it be one of the first or one of the last?
Here is the order of ratification:
1 Delaware, Dec 7, 1787
2 Pennsylvania, Dec 12, 1787
3 New Jersey, Dec 18, 1787
4 Georgia, Jan 2, 1788
5 Connecticut, Jan 9, 1788
6 Massachusetts, Feb. 6, 1788
7 Maryland, April 28, 1788
8 South Carolina, May 23, 1788
9 New Hampshire, June 21, 1788
10 Virginia, June 25, 1788
11 New York, July 26, 1788
12 North Carolina, Nov. 21, 1789
13 Rhode Island, May 29, 1790
14 Vermont, May 4, 1791
15 Kentucky, June 1, 1792
16 Tennessee, June 1, 1796
17 Ohio, March 1, 1803
18 Louisiana, April 30, 1812
19 Indiana, Dec 11, 1816
20 Mississippi, Dec 10, 1817
21 Illinois, Dec 3, 1818
22 Alabama, Dec 14, 1819
23 Maine, March 15, 1820
24 Missouri, Aug. 10, 1821
25 Arkansas, June 15, 1836
26 Michigan, Jan 26, 1837
27 Florida, March 3, 1845
28 Texas, Dec 29, 1845
29 Iowa, Dec 28, 1846
30 Wisconsin, May 29, 1848
31 California, Sept. 9, 1850
32 Minnesota, May 11, 1858
33 Oregon, Feb. 14, 1859
34 Kansas, Jan 29, 1861
35 West Virginia, June 20, 1863
36 Nevada, Oct. 31, 1864
37 Nebraska, March 1, 1867
38 Colorado, Aug. 1, 1876
39 North Dakota, Nov. 2, 1889
40 South Dakota, Nov. 2, 1889
41 Montana, Nov. 8, 1889
42 Washington, Nov. 11, 1889
43 Idaho, July 3, 1890
44 Wyoming, July 10, 189
45 Utah, Jan 4, 1896
46 Oklahoma, Nov. 16, 1907
47 New Mexico, Jan 6, 1912
48 Arizona, Feb. 14, 1912
49 Alaska, Jan 3, 1959
50 Hawaii, Aug. 21, 1959
The celebration concludes with “Bells Across America” led from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, in honor of the First Amendment – the Freedom of Speech and Religion.
