Constitution Day
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About Constitution Day
To encourage all Americans to learn more about the Constitution, Congress in 1956 established Constitution Week, to begin each year on September 17th, the date in 1787 when delegates to the Convention signed the Constitution. In 2004, Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia included key provisions in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of Fiscal Year 2005 designating September 17th of each year as Constitution Day and requiring public schools and governmental offices to provide educational programs to promote a better understanding of the Constitution.
Constitution Day activities at Arizona State University since 2006 are listed below. From 2006 to 2017, the ASU Library hosted various Constitution Day events.
Starting in 2017, the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership https://scetl.asu.edu/ has hosted an Annual Constitution Day Lecture. https://scetl.asu.edu/annual-constitution-day-lecture
See the ASU News articles, "ASU professor discuss the history, importance of Constitution Day," and "5 things to know about the Constitution."
ASU Constitution Day 2024
“A Constitution for a Diverse Nation: Federalism and the Challenge of American Pluralism” with Michael Barone
The School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership's 2024 Annual Constitution Day Lecture is “A Constitution for a Diverse Nation: Federalism and the Challenge of American Pluralism” with Michael Barone
The United States has been a diverse, pluralistic nation from its beginnings as founders including Benjamin Franklin and George Washington understood. Framers of the American Constitution recognized those differences by balancing a federal government handling foreign and military policy and internal commerce with other policies affecting local matters reserved to the states. That system offers a guide to resolving conflicts today from imposing national cultural policies on a culturally diverse country.
Date: Monday, September 16
Time: 5-7 p.m.
Location: Old Main, Carson Ballroom
About the Speaker
Michael Barone is Senior Political Analyst for the Washington Examiner and Resident Fellow Emeritus at the American Enterprise Institute. He grew up in Michigan and graduated from Harvard College and Yale Law School, and was an editor at the Harvard Crimson and the Yale Law Journal.
Mr. Barone served as a law clerk in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and was a vice president of the polling firm of Peter D. Hart Research Associates from 1974 to 1981. From 1981 to 1988 he was a member of the editorial page staff of the Washington Post. He was a senior writer at U.S. News & World Report from 1989 to 2009 and a Senior Staff Editor at Reader’s Digest from 1996 to 1998..
Mr. Barone was the founding co-author of The Almanac of American Politics, the first edition of which edition appeared in 1971 and the principal co-author for 40 years. He is also the author of Our Country: The Shaping of America from Roosevelt to Reagan (Free Press, 1990), The New Americans: How the Melting Pot Can Work Again (Regnery, 2001; paperback edition, July 2006), Hard America, Soft America: Competition vs. Coddling and the Competition for the Nation’s Future (Crown Forum, 2004; paperback edition, 2005), Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America’s Founding Fathers (Crown Forum, 2007), Shaping Our Nation: How Surges of Migration Transformed America and Its Politics (Crown Forum, 2013), How America’s Political Parties Change (And How They Don’t) (Encounter Books, 2019) and Mental Maps of the Founders: How Geographic Imagination Guided America’s Revolutionary Leaders (Encounter Books, 2023).
Over the years he has written for many other publications in the United States and several other countries, including the Economist, the Times Literary Supplement and the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Times of London. His weekly column is syndicated by Creators Syndicate.
Mr. Barone received the Bradley Prize from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation in 2010, the Barbara Olsen Award from The American Spectator in 2006 and the Carey McWilliams Award from the American Political Science Association in 1992.
Mr. Barone lives in Washington, D.C. He has traveled to all 50 states and all 435 congressional districts, and to 54 foreign countries.
Past ASU Constitution Day Events
- 2023 Event - "The Constitution and Civic Virtue" with Robert P. GeorgeConstitutional structural constraints on power are necessary for the maintenance of republican government and ordered liberty but, Professor George will argue, they are not sufficient. Certain virtues in the people, intellectual and moral, are no less necessary. And yet, the political order, however well-constituted it may be, cannot play more than a minor role in imparting these virtues. The major role must be played by what Edmund Burke called the “little platoons” of civil society—the private associations, beginning with the family, that are primary in providing health, education, and welfare, and transmitting to each new generation the habits or mind and heart that are necessary for people to lead successful lives and be good citizens.
- 2022 Event - "1776 and Us: Finding the Founding in a Foundering Democracy" with Dr. Jane KamenskyFrom the very beginning, the history and study of the American Revolution has been bound up with the national identity of the United States, and thus with the country’s present needs. In recent years, the competing imperatives of activists and journalists at both edges of our ideological spectrum have produced warring narratives of the American founding: slavery versus liberty, original sin versus germinal gift, conclave of villains versus garden of heroes. Both of these approaches owe more to politics than to history. As we approach the quarter-millennium mark, how can we equip ourselves and our students with an understanding of the revolutionary era that is rigorous, complex, and above all, true to the evidence?
- 2021 Event - "Patriotism – Our Most Contested Virtue" with Steven B. SmithIs patriotism a virtue and, if so, what kind is it? Throughout history, love of country has had to contend with other forms of loyalty, to friends, family, clan, and religious community. Today it is necessary to defend patriotism from two alternatives: nationalism (on the right) and cosmopolitanism/multiculturalism (on the left). To do so, it is important to show that patriotism is not simply a form of blind loyalty – my country right or wrong – but is capable of moral honesty and rational self-criticism. An enlightened patriotism is the necessary underpinning of any decent society.
- 2020 Event - The Surprising History of Women's Suffrage with Ellen DuBoisThe subject of the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership's 2020 Annual Constitution Day Lecture is Women’s Long Battle for the Vote: Surprises on the Road to the Nineteenth Amendment, the topic and title of Professor DuBois' most recent book. The lecture will cover the seventy-five years of the U.S. woman suffrage movement with an emphasis on things you might not already know, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.
- 2019 Event - The President Who Would Not Be KingAt the Constitutional Convention, the delegates struggled to create a presidency with sufficient authority to lead the nation, but without creating an elective monarch. This lecture will outline the little-known story of how the framers went about that task, and its implications for today.
The ASU School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership welcomes Michael McConnell to Arizona State University where he will present the 2019 Constitution Day Address. - 2018 Event - Lincoln's Fathers, Constitution Day AddressRichard Brookhiser. 'Lincoln's Fathers'
Abraham Lincoln looked to the founding fathers — George Washington, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson — all his life for inspiration and for guidance in self-expression and politics. But two other fathers also preoccupied him: his biological father, Thomas Lincoln, and — especially as the Civil War ground on — God the father. - 2017 Event - "The Renaissance of Federalism" with Hon. Clint BolickSeptember 17, 1787 was the final day of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia; with George Washington presiding as the president of the convention, the delegates who supported the final draft added their signatures to the text. In order to promote both understanding and appreciation of our nation’s fundamental law, The School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University welcomed Hon. Clint Bolick of the Arizona Supreme Court.
- 2017 ASU Library Event - Hamilton and 'Hamilton'Join ASU Library for a celebration of Constitution Day, which will include a lecture by Peter McNamara, professor of practice. He will focus on the rivalry between Hamilton and Jefferson, as portrayed in the hit musical "Hamilton," which will be coming to ASU Gammage next year. McNamara will pay special attention to each man's views on the Constitution.
- 2016 Event - Constitution trivia and a free pocket ConstitutionStudents and faculty can participate in Constitution trivia. All participates will receive a free pocket Constitution. You never know when you may need to have your Constitution handle, just like the late Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia.
- 2015 Event - Unalienable Rights: The Role of the Creator in Public LifeDr. Owen Anderson, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religious studies in ASU's New College. Dr. Owen discussed the statement in the Declaration of Independence, and it's influence on the Constitution.
- 2014 Event - Polarization in the Court?A review of recent decisions leads one to conclude that the Supreme Court reflects the political polarization of the country and that the final arbitration of the law of the United States is a numbers game. ASU Associate Professor Valerie Hoekstra examines the historical perspective of Supreme Court polarization as well as current and ongoing controversies related to the court.
- 2013 Event - "How long have you had the right to vote?"Arizona State University Professor T.J. Davis speaks on the history of voting rights.
- 2012 Event - “Are You Talking to Me?: Who Are Those “People” in the Tenth Amendment?”Robert J. McWhirter will present an engaging and informative illustrated presentation on the history of the Tenth Amendment for Constitution Day, September 17, 2012.
- 2011 Event - Side By Side: The Freedom Riders Sacrifice to Expose SegregationIn connection with the current Freedom Riders exhibit, we will be hosting two discussions by ASU professors and a public viewing of the Freedom Riders American Experience documentary.
Dr. Matthew Whitaker discusses the Civil Rights movement in Arizona including the impact of the Freedom Riders
Dr. T. J. Davis discusses the Constitutional Issues surrounding the Freedom Rides, and other attempts to draw attention to and change Jim Crow laws. - 2011 Event - Freedom RidersFREEDOM RIDERS is the powerful harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives—and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders met with bitter racism and mob violence along the way, sorely testing their belief in nonviolent activism.
- 2010 Event - Our Constitution: Questions for TodayDr. T.J. Davis, PhD, JD. Professor of History, Arizona State University
After the film, Dr. Davis, who teaches Constitutional History, will lead a discussion about current issues surrounding the U.S. Constitution, including the controversy about the 14th Amendment. - 2010 Event - Our Constitution: A ConversationJustices Sandra Day O’Connor and Stephen G. Breyer answer questions from students about why we need a written Constitution and what it says and about the Supreme Court and and its rulings.
- 2009 Event - ASU Reads the ConstitutionAll ASU faculty, staff and students are invited to join together for "ASU Reads the Constitution" to celebrate Constitution Day this Thursday, September 17. The ASU Library and the Undergraduate Student Government are collaborating to organize this public reading of the Constitution.
- 2009 Library MinuteIn this week's Library Minute, Anali gives us the lowdown on Constitution Day, provides interesting facts about the Constitution and invites all ASU students, faculty and staff to join in the public reading of the Constitution (ASU Reads the Constitution) to mark this year's Constitution Day on Thursday September 17, 2009.
- 2008 Promotion - Baby Don’t Be Cruel: What’s So “Cruel and Unusual” About The Eight Amendment?The ASU Library will be hosting a lecture by Robert McWhirter of the Maricopa County Legal Defenders Office on Wednesday September 17 to mark the annual celebration of Constitution Day.
- 2007 Event - How the Constitution Guarantees You a Trial, a Lawyer and a Chamber Pot! A Multimedia History of the 6th AmendmentMcWhirter, a certified specialist in criminal law with the State Bar of Arizona, defends death penalty and other serious felonies. He covers the confrontation clause, the right to a lawyer and the reasonable doubt standards. The issue goes back to the European trial by ordeal.
- 2007 Event - The Constitution in ActionAndy Hessick, a visiting professor at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law discusses several cases coming before the Supreme Court, including a case on child pornography, a Texas case in which the president directed the state to reconsider a Mexican national’s habeas petition and the state refused, and another on the “dormant commerce clause,” which deals with state and national regulation of interstate commerce.
- 2007 Press - Presentation celebrates 220th anniversary of U.S. ConstitutionRobert J. McWhirter, senior attorney with the Maricopa Legal Defender’s Office and former assistant federal public defender, and Andy Hessick, a visiting professor at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, will speak on the U.S. Constitution as part of a celebration of the 220th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution from 2-5 p.m. on Constitution Day, Sept. 17.
- 2006 Podcast - What is Constitution Day?In this podcast, Fred McIlvain and Mimmo Bonanni interview Dan Stanton and Mark Scott of Government Documents ASU Library about the 2006 Constitution Day Celebration and the history of the constitution, why it is so important to the United States, and how you can get involved in the yearly event.
- 2006 Lecture- The Constitution in Action: Review and Preview of Upcoming Constitutional Supreme Court CasesPresented by Dr. Catherine O'Grady, Professor of Law and Executive Director, Clinical Program, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law.
- 2006 Lecture - Rebirth of a Nation: Origins and Ratification of the ConstitutionASU Library Presents Dr. Catherine Kaplan, Assistant Professor of History, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
- 2006 Lecture - Watchdogs or Lapdogs? The Role of a Free Press and the First AmendmentASU Library Presents Dr. Joseph Russomanno, Associate Professor of Journalism, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.