National Constitution Day

Hey, Philly, this Sunday, September 17th, is National Constitution Day! That's because on September 17th, 1787 the Constitution was signed right here in our very own Philadelphia. The 17th is a Sunday this year, which means some folks are observing on Monday, so there are events and celebrations throughout the weekend and into next week. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the National Constitution Center has a particularly large number of events going on, and most of them are free, or free after admission to the museum.

First up, at 1PM today, is a live reading of the entire Constitution (all the way through to the 27th Amendment) by representatives from nearly all 50 states. Schools from each state will connect via internet video conference to read their bits, and you can watch on the internet, too, using this live feed, if you're too lazy to get down to the Center. This isn't not the only time the Constitution will be read this weekend, either; area religious leaders will be reciting it on Sunday, and the editor of the USA Today will be reading the Preamble on Monday. There will also be a family-friendly Constitution Birthday Bash at the Center on Saturday and Sunday from 11AM to 2PM, with games, silly activities, and even an appearance by George Washington himself.

Monday is packed with events, as a brand new Philly high school, the Constitution High School, will be officially opened at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the morning, while back at the Center a group of foreign-born people will officially be sworn in as citizens of the US. Then there's Freedom Sings from 3:30PM - 4:30PM which is "a critically acclaimed multimedia experience featuring an all-star cast of musicians and an 'only-in-America' story line." USA Today is sponsoring this, and they'll also be around to sign up folks to vote and to introduce a new Constitution Blog.

Of course, another way to celebrate the Constitution is to pledge to defend it, and if you head down to Independence Mall at 5th and Market at around 2:30PM you can join a rally on that very topic, sponsored by the ACLU. John Dean (author of Worse than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush), William Buckman (ACLU-NJ cooperating attorney and racial profiling expert), and Angel Ortiz (Former City Councilmember and sponsor of the Philadelphia anti-PATRIOT Act resolution) will all be there to speak.

Or you could take a Constitutional Walking Tour of Philly, or.... Well, as you can see, there's lots to do - we're only scratching the surface in this short outline - and seeing as how the Constitution is practically our baby, Philadelphia, why not get out there and find some way to celebrate it? Well, the good bits, anyway.

Photo of the document in question by Flickr user uscfan