FREESTONE COUNTY JUDGE Linda Grant (at top) signs a proclamation declaring Constitution Week as member Diane Pullin and Regent Nancy McSwane of the Jonathan Hardin Chapter, NSDAR look on during a small ceremony at the courthouse last week. (Photo by Natalia V. Marsters)
American colonists fought, sacrificed, and died to establish and preserve the freedoms now guaranteed to us by the Constitution of the United States.
The Jonathan Hardin Chapter, NSDAR will be celebrating Constitution Week, September 17-23. This commemorates the signing of the Constitution of the United States 233 years ago.
Constitution week began when in 1955, then President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Gertrude S. Caraway. She adopted a project to promote the observance of the U.S. Constitution with a memorial week beginning on the anniversary of the signing of this document, Sept. 17. She asked DAR chapters to study, teach and discuss the U.S. Constitution. Caraway also encouraged members to invite governors, mayors, and county judges to issue proclamations celebrating the Constitution.
Constitution Week was officially declared by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on August 2, 1956. The U.S. Constitution is the oldest constitution still in active use in the world today and is the basic document of our republic, which protects the individual liberties of all citizens through written law. Our Constitution has also been used by many other countries as a model for drafting their own constitution.
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, 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.”
These words, written in 1787, are the Preamble to our constitution. This Constitution Week, September 17-23 as we celebrate the signing of this important document, let us resolve to be better-informed and responsible citizens. Take time to read the Constitution.
“To live under the American Constitution is the greatest political privilege that was ever accorded to the human race.” –Calvin Coolidge
