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BACKGROUND HISTORY |
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Tidewater Tech,
Beta Tech, Polytechnic Institute of
In the mid-1990’s, the September Constitution Day celebration was carried out by a non-partisan, non-profit organization called Constitution Day, Inc. It was founded by Louise Leigh, a retired medical technologist. Since 1997, Leigh has organized Constitution Day events at Knott's Berry Farm in California. Leigh began her activism as Outreach Director for the California Bicentennial Commission three decades ago after retiring. "I spoke on university campuses and schools and service clubs, and realized how little people knew about the Constitution," Leigh said. "I never stopped trying to perpetuate the Constitution." Constitution Day, Inc. includes members from the Ronald Reagan Library, the Freedoms Foundation, and state honorees that include fifteen state governors, including Jeb Bush of Florida. The organization has, for the past eight years, observed Constitution Day with a nationwide simultaneous recitation of the Preamble. This year, General Tommy Franks will lead this collaborative reading, while it has previously been read by George Bush, Sr., U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, and Chief Justice Roy Moore of Alabama. The mission of the incorporated group spells out the importance and the purpose of Constitution Day: Our Mission is to perpetuate the Constitution to each succeeding generation. To promote the annual national simultaneous recitation of the Preamble across all of America, especially in the schools. To educate each new generation to the uniqueness and brilliance of our Constitution, the most perfect governmental document conceived by man. To show the need to protect and defend it to maintain our liberties. The recitation of the Preamble will begin at 2:00 p.m. EDT and will launch the celebration. The nationally synchronized and televised celebration will end with bells ringing across America led from the location where George Washington was victorious over the British in the Revolutionary War—the Carillon on the grounds of the Freedom Foundation in Valley Forge, PA. Several houses of worship will ring “town bells” in hamlets across the nation in honor of the First Amendment Freedom of Religion. In addition to televised and real-time festivities, the New York Times Knowledge Network and other partners will broadcast two programs via satellite and the Web for students and educators to view. On September 16, Conversations with Supreme Court Justices will broadcast at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. EDT. The Justice Talking debate will broadcast from 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. To register for the program, visit www.justicelearning.org. Constitution Day has become a major day of celebration, honoring the document by which we create laws. 229 years after winning our freedom from England and 218 years after the original Articles of Confederation met, we continue to upgrade the living Law of the Land to preserve the fundamentals that this country and its Founding Fathers created: We The People of the United states still hold these truths to be self-evident in order to form a more perfect union. Constitution Day, Virginia Beach Jeff Barbour, Librarian of Tidewater Tech, Virginia Beach, will present a library display from September 12 to September 23, 2005 commemorating the original signing of the Constitution, which took place on September 17, 1787. All local students are encouraged to visit and enter their names in a drawing by completing the following trivia question: How many words were contained in the first Constitution of the United States of America? Constitution Day Online We welcome all of our students to participate in Constitution Day online. Visit www.tidewatertechonline.com/ constitutionday/ to access academic olympics, games, pictures, and reports from the Virginia Beach celebration, as well as links to Constitution Day celebrations across the country. |
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