9. Constitution Day

Constitution Day commemorates the signing of the US Constitution by thirty-nine delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787.

Spotlights, Exhibitions, and Historical Resources

• Differences between Federalists and Antifederalists: A downloadable infographic of the differences between Federalists and Antifederalists at the time the Constitution was being ratified.
• “Historical Context: The Survival of the US Constitution”: A brief outline of how the Constitution has evolved by Professor Steven Mintz (University of Texas at Austin)
• A newspaper story about a brawl between Federalists and anti-Federalists, 1788
• Two versions of the Preamble to the Constitution, 1787
• “‘We the People’: Printings of the US Constitution from the Gilder Lehrman Collection,” an online exhibition
• "Alexander Hamilton and the Ratification of the Constitution," an online exhibition

Videos

These three videos are 1- to 4-minute clips that briefly address specific questions:

• “The US Constitution and the Concept of Originalism” by Professor Jack Rakove (Stanford University)
• “Slavery and the Constitution” by Professor James Oliver Horton (George Washington University)
• “Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists” by Professor Carol Berkin (Baruch College & The Graduate Center, CUNY)

Book Breaks

• Steven A. Steinbach and Maeva Marcus: With Liberty and Justice for All? The Constitution in the Classroom
• Akhil Reed Amar: The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation: 1760–1840

Inside the Vault

• Constitution Day!
• Benjamin Franklin

History Now: The Journal

• The Constitution: In History Now issue 13, scholars explore the philosophical and political traditions and innovations that defined the Constitution—and those that prompted opposition to it by the Antifederalists.
• Additional History Now essays:
  • “Reconstruction and the Remaking of the Constitution” by Eric Foner
  • “Douglass and the US Constitution: The Dred Scott Decision” by Randall Kennedy
  • “James Wilson: Scottish Immigrant, Pennsylvania Statesman, Signer of the Declaration, and Framer of the Constitution” by Jonathan Gienapp

Lesson Plans

• “Our Constitution: The Bill of Rights”: Students will examine the rights and restrictions that are defined by the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution in lesson plans scaled for various grades:
  For Grades 4–6
  For Grades 7–9
  For Grades 10–12
• “Opposing Viewpoints on the Ratification of the US Constitution”: Students will examine and analyze key excerpts from “Federalist No. 51,” George Mason’s Objections to the Constitution, and notes from Alexander Hamilton’s Plan of Government speech.