Congress designates Sept. 17 as a day to recognize the value and history of the guiding document.
“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.”
— Preamble to the Constitution of the United States
In 2004, Congress passed legislation establishing Constitution and Citizenship Day, a federal holiday commemorating the ratification of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787. USC observes the 228th anniversary of this historic event with opportunities to learn more about the Constitution and marking its legacy with a live viewing of the second Republican presidential debate Sept. 16 in Wallis Annenberg Hall.
The event, sponsored by the USC Dornsife Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics, will feature a live viewing of the event, followed by a panel discussion featuring former elected officials and USC students. The panel includes:
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- Dario Frommer, former California state assembly member (District 43).
- Tony Strickland, former California state senator (District 19).
- Anshu Siripurapu, news editor, Daily Trojan.
- Paul Samaha, political science major at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Science.
The discussion will be moderated by Dan Schnur, director of the USC Unruh Institute. For more detail regarding the event, please visit the institute’s website.
Background on the U.S. Constitution
On Sept. 17, 1787, 39 of the 55 delegates attending the Constitutional Convention signed the U.S. Constitution, forging a new government for the United States of America.
The result of months of strenuous debate over the structure and powers of a new federal government, the U.S. Constitution is a testament to cooperative statesmanship and the art of politics. In fact, in his proclamation creating the first national Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, Nov. 26, 1789, George Washington noted that the holiday should be a time for the people of the United States to give thanks, among other things, for “the peaceable and rational manner” in which the Constitution had been established.
Since the Bill of Rights was adopted on Dec. 15, 1791, the U.S. Constitution has been amended only 16 times. Providing an intricate system of checks and balances among the various branches and levels of government, and assuring the basic individual liberties that are essential to a free and democratic society, this remarkable document has proved extraordinarily adaptable to the needs of a changing society. It also has served as an inspiration and a model for other countries around the world.
The National Archives has posted a variety of materials about the Constitution available through these links:
This feature originally appeared in USC News.
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