Honor Our Constitution America's Most Important Document By Special Request

Each week the Museum of Teaching and Learning distributes articles composed to explore a variety of topics that help us enact our mission: We educate people about education.


By request, we are republishing a piece that was not only popular on all our electronic platforms months ago, but prompted many messages of gratitude. We think this week is an appropriate time to honor this topic. Again.
The Constitution of the United States of America was signed on September 17, 1787. In 1952, Congress passed a law to commemorate the formation and signing of the Constitution of the United States. Citizenship Day was established by Congress in 1940 to “recognize all who, by coming of age or by naturalization, have become citizens.” The days were combined into one in 2004 and two new requirements were added:

1) The head of every federal agency must provide each employee with educational and training materials concerning the Constitution on September 17.


2) Each educational institution which receives Federal funds should hold a program for students every September 17.

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So, why bother? We already know about the Constitution, its Articles, its Bill of Rights, its Amendments. At least we believe we do, but when we sit down to read the Constitution and all its parts, we suddenly discover that it doesn’t really tell us how to govern. Harvard Professor Kim Wehle, in her terrific book How to Read the Constitution and Why, says the Constitution is “a relatively terse document that leaves much of its necessary terms and meaning unwritten. The Constitution is held up by conventions and norms that developed over centuries of American history.”


In her book, Professor Wehle introduces the concept of plain-language reading. This approach requires the reader to “isolate phrases, then individual words, and then figure out as many interpretations of the words as possible. Once you have the various options on the table, you can start to prioritize the options and choose which is best.” Throughout the book, Wehle uses this approach to examine and then discuss each Article and Amendment in the Constitution.

Please join us at The Museum of Teaching and Learning as we LEARN to understand the implications of our beloved constitution.  Suggestion: see constitutionday.com


There are many resources available for exploring the U.S. Constitution. Here is a very brief list of some MOTAL recommendations:


Constitution of the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States



Constitution Day and Citizenship Day
https://www.loc.gov/law/help/commemorative-observations/constitution-day.php



Celebrating Constitution Day
https://www.archives.gov/news/topics/constitution-day


Prepared by
Cheryl Stewart, MOTAL Board Member