Observing Constitution Day

SAINT AUGUSTINE – Bells will ring out from the gazebo in the Plaza de la Constitution at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, as the Maria Jefferson Chapter of the DAR observes Constitution Day 2019. In doing so, the local DAR will join with organizations around the country recognizing the date that the delegation to the Constitutional Convention met for the final time to sign the document they had created.

The event is open to the public.

According to Wikipedia, “Constitution Day Sept. 17  (or Citizenship Day, formerly observed the third Sunday in May) is an American federal observance that recognizes the adoption of the United States Constitution and those who have become U.S. citizens. It is normally observed on September 17, the day in 1787 that delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document in Philadelphia.^[1]

The law establishing the present holiday was created in 2004 with the passage of an amendment by Senator Robert Byrd to the Omnibus spending bill of 2004.^[3] Before this law was enacted, the holiday was known as “Citizenship Day”. In addition to renaming the holiday “Constitution Day and Citizenship Day,” the act mandates that all publicly funded educational institutions, and all federal agencies, provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution on that day.^[4] In May 2005, the United States Department of Education announced the enactment of this law and that it would apply to any school receiving federal funds of any kind.^[“