Growls

Section 2.2-3315 of the Code of Virginia, “Citizenship Day and Constitution Week,” provides:

“The Governor shall annually issue a proclamation setting the seventeenth day of September as Citizenship Day and September seventeen through twenty-three as Constitution Week and recommending that they be observed by the Commonwealth with appropriate exercises in the schools and otherwise so that the eventful day on which the Constitution of the United States was formally adopted may forever remain enshrined in the hearts and minds of all citizens and so that they may be reminded on that date annually of the blessings of liberty that they enjoy by the adoption of the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights and all other amendments thereto.”

Peter Wehner has a nice post at Contentions, Commentary Magazine’s website, in which he explains the historical importance of celebrating the day. He writes in part:

“On this day in 1787, delegates to the Federal Convention completed their work (which began in May) and voted to approve a new Constitution, which was submitted to the states for ratification (which occurred on June 21, 1788). Now the oldest written national constitution in the world, the British statesman William Gladstone described it as ‘the most remarkable work known to me in modern times to have been produced by the human intellect.’”

Wehner includes a portion of a speech by Benjamin Franklin, and adds:

“It is hard to overstate the importance of, and the sheer brilliance and prescience of, the American Constitution. It established the world’s first stable democratic government and provided the governing framework for the most powerful and benevolent nation in human history. The product above all of 36-year-old James Madison, an unparalleled master of political and constitutional theory . . . .”

For additional information and resources, visit Hillsdale College’s new Allan P. Kirby Center for Constitutional Studies & Citizenship.

UPDATE (9/17/10): Here's the link to the proclamation signed by Governor Bob O'Donnell. Former Attorney General Ed Meese has comments on Constitution Day here, and a Heritage Foundation video honoring Constitution Day is here.

UPDATE (9/18/10): Roger Pilon writes about Constitution Day at the Cato Institute's blog, Cato@Liberty, including this:

"James Madison, the principal author of the Constitution, wrote in Federalist 45 that the powers of the new government would be “few and defined,” leaving us largely free to plan and live our own lives. If we’re to restore that Constitution of limited government, it will take more than courts and “politics as usual” to do so. We’ve got to take the Constitution seriously not just on Constitution Day but on every day. Fortunately, there are stirrings in the nation today that suggest that ever more Americans are doing so. Thomas Jefferson said it best: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”" (emphases added)