I have drafted a proclamation to celebrate Constitution week. I’m sharing it with you with the hopes you will ask your governors and legislatures to issue a version for themselves. If you do get a proclamation issued, please share the details in the comments below.
“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
On September 17, 1787, the Continental Congress approved and 39 men signed the proposed Constitution for the United States of America, sending it to the states for ratification. This document, once ratified, created the federal government, established its only legitimate powers, and the boundaries within which said power could be exercised. As stated in Article VI, Clause 2 of the Constitution, it is the supreme law of the land, joined only by laws of the United States made in pursuance thereof and treaties made within the authority delegated to the United States. As required by Article VI, Clause 3 of the Constitution of the United States, all members of the legislatures and all executive and judicial officers of both the United States and the several States are bound by oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States. However they are not the only ones with a duty to support the Constitution.
Federalist Papers author and first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Jay, exhorted “Every member of the State ought diligently to read and to study the constitution of his country, and teach the rising generation to be free. By knowing their rights, they will sooner perceive when they are violated, and be the better prepared to defend and assert them.” It is incumbent on the people to read and study the Constitution of our country, so that we may defend and assert our right.
Now, Therefore, I, ____________________, ________________ of ______________, do hereby designate the week beginning September 11th, and ending September 17th Two Thousand and Twenty Two as Constitution Week; and I invite the people of ___________________________ to observe that week by taking Mr. Jay’s advice to read and study the Constitution of our country, and prepare ourselves to defend and assert our rights against all those who would infringe on them, whether foreign or domestic.
