LibGuides: Constitution Day: Home

Introduction

Constitution Day commemorates the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution by thirty-nine brave men on September 17, 1787, recognizing all who are born in the U.S.or by naturalization, have become citizens.

On September 17, 1787, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met for the last time to sign the document they had created. We encourage all Americans to observe this important day in our nation's history by attending local events in your area. Celebrate Constitution Day through activities, learning, parades and demonstrations of our Love for the United State of America and the Blessings of Freedom Our Founding Fathers secured for us.

Quoted from https://www.constitutionday.com/

Books on library shelves

The Bill of Rights and beyond, 1791-1991
Call Number: KF4750 .B52 1991

Learn more about the twenty-six amendments to the United States Constitution, how each amendment was added, and the people responsible such as George Mason, James Madison, and Carrie Chapman Catt.
The Heart of the Constitution by Gerard Magliocca
Call Number: KF4749 .M325 2018

Discover how the first ten amendments to the Constitution became known as the Bill of Rights and how much these rights mean to us today.
Civil Rights and Responsibilities under the Constitution by Sidney H. Ash
Call Number: KF4749 .A8

Civil rights and responsibilities go hand in hand.
The Democratic Constitution by Neal Devins and Louis Fisher
Call Number: KF4550 .D48 2015

Making use of case studies on race, privacy, federalism, war powers, speech, and religion, Devins and Fisher demonstrate how elected officials uphold individual rights in such areas as religious liberty and free speech as well as, and often better than, the courts.
The Summer Of 1787: the men who invented the Constitution by David O. Stewart
Call Number: KF4510 .S74 2007

The successful creation of the Constitution is a suspense story. This book takes us into the sweltering room in which delegates struggled for four months to produce the flawed but enduring document that would define the nation.
Civil rights & responsibilities under the Constitution by Sidney H. Ash
Call Number: KF4749 .A8

Challenging conventional legal analysis, the author describes complex interactions between branches of government as well as interactions with ordinary people who participated in the struggle.
The Democratic Constitution by Neal Devins and Louis Fisher
Call Number: KF4550 .D48 2015

This fascinating debunking of judicial supremacy argues that nonjudicial contributions to constitutional interpretation make the Constitution more stable, more consistent with constitutional principles, and more protective of individual and minority rights.

Online Resources

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The Constitution explained : a guide for every American by David L. Hudson
Call Number: eBook 2022

A guide the citizenship and the American government, The Constitution Explained takes an even-handed approach to controversial issues and explores various points of view. It sheds a light on the differing and changing interpretations of the many broadly worded key phrases in the Constitution.
The annotated U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence by Jack N. Rakove
Call Number: eBook 2009

The two founding documents of the United States of America: the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the Constitution (1787-88) built the framework for our federal republic. Together with the Bill of Rights and the Civil War amendments, these documents constitute what James Madison called our "political scriptures," and have come to define us as a people.
Keeping faith with the Constitution by Goodwin Liu, Pamela S. Karlan, and Christopher H. Schroeder
Call Number: ebook 2010

Chief Justice John Marshall argued that a constitution "requires that only its great outlines should be marked [and] its important objects designated. Ours is intended to endure for ages to come, and consequently, to be adapted to the various crises of human affairs." In recent years, though, Marshall's great truths have been supplanted by originalism and strict construction.
Unifying the Nation: Article IV of the United States Constitution by Joseph F. Zimmerman
Call Number: eBook 2015

The article's first section, the Full Faith and Credit Clause, requires that individual states must respect "the public acts, accords, and judicial proceedings of every other state," and the second section, the Privileges and Immunity Clause, prevents one state from treating the citizens of another state in a discriminatory manner.
American epic: reading the U.S. Constitution by Garrett Epps
Call Number: eBook 2013

The Constitution offers us, at the most basic level the means we can employ today to create a "more perfect union ... to ourselves and our posterity". It is a tool kit for our politics and a testament of out history.

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The United States Constitution
Call Number: Video 2004

The Constitution is one of the most important and versatile documents ever written. Orderly systems of government, a president who is held accountable by Congress, and brilliantly conceived checks and balances all flow from the Constitution. It has stood the test of time and remains viable and fresh in an age, today, when life is much different than when it was written.
The Bill of Rights and Amending the Constitution
Call Number: Video 2019

Short overview of the most important aspects.
Amending the Constitution
Call Number: Video 2004

This program explains the constitutional amendment process and the importance in our own lives. It defines what an amendment is, explains why amendments have been needed through the centuries, and describes the process for proposing and ratifying an amendment.