The United States Constitution was adopted by members of the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787. Although Constitution Day and Citizenship Day has been recognized as a Federal event every September 17 since 2004, federal employees of the United States do not get a day off. Instead, the Statute creating this federal event requires that ” all publicly funded educational institutions provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution on that day.”
Prior to 2004, September 17th was recognized as Citizenship Day, a day when new U.S. citizens were honored.
Louisville, Ohio calls itself “Constitution Town” because one of its citizens helped gain this day national recognition. Olga T. Weber petitioned municipal officials to establish Constitution Day, in honor of the ratification of the US Constitution. That was back in 1952. As a result of her efforts, a “Constitution Week was observed nationally beginning on Jan. 5, 1956. A joint Congressional resolution was then introduced to have the president designate Sept. 17-23 as Constitution Week, and the resolution was adopted on July 23, 1956 and signed into law on Aug. 2. The law formally establishing September 17th as a national holiday wasn’t passed until 2004, however.
For more information, and to find out what events are held to celebrate Constitution Day, visit this site, sponsored by the National Constitution Center.
