Update: Read about how the event went (with photos!)

Welcome to our Constitution and Citizenship Day celebration! Because Constitution Day falls on a Sunday this year the round-robin public reading of the United States Constitution and its amendments will take place on Monday, September 18th at noon in the Terrell Library Atrium. All members of the WSU and Pullman communities are welcome to participate or observe! 

If you are unable to make it, a copy of the Constitution and its amendments will be in the Terrell Library at the CUB entrance starting on Wednesday for people to read on their own. 

Free copies of the Constitution will be available. If you would like a pamphlet edition of the Constitution and Amendments sent to you via inter-campus mail or USPS mail, please email me (Lorena) - there is a mail-to link to the left.

A Note:

The Constitution and its amendments is in no way a finished product. It is a product of its times, and its  limitations and failures – towards women, African Americans, Native Americans, the accused, and others - have resulted in division, discrimination, inequality, and death. Over more than 200 years it has been analyzed, interpreted, reinterpreted and amended over and over. Progress has been made, however, and will continue as the amended Constitution marches into the middle of its third century. We can celebrate the Constitution while acknowledging its limitations as we work to improve it.

On order: How to Interpret the Constitution /Cass Sunstein

On order: Untrodden Ground: How presidents interpret the Constitution /Harold Bruff

In 1952 Congress passed a joint resolution declaring Sept. 17 as a day of commemoration for the signing of the U.S. Constitution and "National Citizenship Day" to  recognize all those who had attained American citizenship.  In 2005 it was formally named "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day" in Public Law 108-447, the Consolidated Appropriations Act. 

For more about the creation of this commemorative day see the Constitution Day website, and also the Law Library of Congress' page, Constitution Day and Citizenship Day.

Constitution of the United States    Analysis and interpretation, Supreme Court cases, Bill of Rights, updated editions and supplements.

Constitucion de los Estados Unidos (National Archives)

Charters of Freedom: Constitution of the United States  (National Archives)     View images of the original document and read about the times in which the Constitution was signed. "Questions and Answers" provides details of the Constitutional Convention, writing and ratification, etc.

Interactive Constitution The National Constitution Center, a non-profit organization based in Philadelphia, provides this website that allows keyword searching of the Constitution with discussion of the text, exploration by topic with as "checks and balances," and "due process," and Supreme Court cases that have interpreted the Constitution.

The Constitution Annotated (Congressional Research Service)- provides a comprehensive overview of how the Constitution has been interpreted over time. It includes discussions of the Supreme Court's latest opinions. See also the Constitution Annotated Supplement 2020.

Image:  United States Constitution. National Archives.

Teaching with Documents: Observing Constitution Day    Curriculum ideas from the National Archives

Constitution Day Activities and Resources  (U.S. Courts)

Constitution Day Teacher Resources  (Library of Congress)

Books, videos, and other resources about the U.S. Constitution, Amendments, Bill of Rights, constitutional law, and related topics can be checked out from the WSU Libraries. Click on the 'Books and Videos' link above to  get some ideas, or search the WSU Libraries Catalog, Search It.

Primary Documents in American History: the Constitution  (Library of Congress)    The American Memory History Collection includes the full-text of documents providing background on the framing and writing of the Constitution such as Elliot's Debates, Farrand's Records, and Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789.

A more perfect union.  CNN, 1987.  Videos 1-8.  A video series on the U.S. Constitution.  WSU Media Materials & Reserves

The Founder's Constitution    (University of Chicago Press)    An anthology of writings  "of a wide array of people engaged in the problem of making popular government safe, steady, and accountable." This site makes accessible the 5-vol. work by broad themes, by article, section, and clause of the Constitution, and by keyword.

"Creating the United States Constitution"  An online exhibit by the Library of Congress

Primary Documents in American History--U.S. Constitution   Also from the Library of Congress

United States Constitution; Texts, Commentaries, Historical Texts and Judicial Decisions  Resources compiled by the Law Library of Congress