Constitution Day Celebrated On September 17

by Annina Bergman | September 14, 2009 at 09:25 am

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The United States' Constitution turns 222 on September 17th. This holiday was established in 2004, with the passage of an amendment by Senator Robert Byrd to the Omnibus spending bill. Before 2004, Constitution Day was known as Citizenship Day.

The Constitution was signed in 1787 at the end of a nearly four month long Constitutional Convention. 55 delegates attended the convention in Philadelphia, and worked together to create a bicameral government, with one executive and one judiciary branch.

The U.S. Constitution is the oldest and shortest of its kind in the world, and functions as the supreme law of the United States. It outlines the relationship between the U.S. Federal Government and the American citizens. The Constitution has been amended 27 times, most recently in 1992. The Constitution can be read at the U.S. National Archives' website.

In addition to renaming the holiday "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day," the act mandates that all publicly funded educational institutions 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.[5] This holiday is not observed by granting time off work for federal employees.