It’s Almost Constitution Week!

It’s September! Daughters are certainly well aware that during September we celebrate Constitution Week September 17-23 beginning with Bells Across America. There are three very different and distinct ways that our Society pays homage to the Law of our Land ~ the Constitution:

• Our DAR Constitution Hall was so named and dedicated, April 19, 1929, to honor the Constitution;
• Do you promise faithfully to uphold the Constitution of the United States…? is a question asked in both our Oath of Membership and Installation of Officers; 
• And certainly, the annual celebration and study of the Constitution is encouraged during the week set aside for this purpose through a Senate Joint Resolution, signed into Public Law 915 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, August 2, 1956. 

We are just two years and several months away from celebrating our nation’s 250^th anniversary… since the signing of the Declaration of Independence and fighting a revolutionary war to secure that independence. The war officially began April 19, 1775, at battles in Lexington and Concord. The written declaration to formalize the intent to sever ties with Great Britain was presented publically nearly 15 months later, July 4, 1776. Simultaneously, the Congress writing the Declaration began work on developing guidelines for a centralized form of government. The Articles of Confederation were adopted in November 1777, with ratification finalized by March of 1781. 

The war was over, peace declared, and treaty signed September 3, 1783. (Hence celebrating the 250th anniversary through 2033.) Soon after the war, however, states reverted back to pre-war focus: the economy, trade, personal livelihood as they pertained to local communities and individual states, rather than as a country united in concern for each other. The well-being of those in the south was of little concern to those in the north and vice versa. The states began to splinter and feud with each other. The Articles of Confederation was not sufficient to maintain a centralized government, one that focused on needs of all to satisfy north, south, large, small, industrial, and agricultural. The newly formed union was in serious jeopardy of falling apart.

Consequently, though outside the celebration timeline, we must look at the Constitution as we plan our Semiquincentennial celebrations. Would we be celebrating America’s 250th anniversary were it not for the Constitution? Many agree that we would not. So, let’s take advantage of the current focus on our nation’s history and study the Constitution throughout the year. Have programs that inform. Include Constitution Minutes at meetings and in newsletters. Take online courses. Declare ourselves to be “We the People” as we recite the Preamble to the Constitution at meetings and special events. Take our nation’s story into classrooms.

The Declaration was the beginning of a grand idea. The Constitution has seen us through the test of time. With our focus on both, we will be “Celebrating Stars and Stripes… Forever!”