Constitution Day
On September 17th, 1787, the last delegate to the Constitutional Convention signed
the Constitution of the United States of America, which began the process of state
ratification. The following fall saw the ninth state ratify it and it became our government
document in March of 1789. 215 years later the United States of America enacted a
law to recognize the importance of our Constitution through the implementation of
a national day of recognition, to be held on the 17th of September each year. It involves
constant effort to maintain a society that respects our rights, that allows us to
utilize the privileges of citizenship, and that treats all persons as valued members
of the human race, regardless of citizenship status, ethnicity, gender identity, religion,
socio-economic, neuro-typical or neuro-diverse background.
We at Bakersfield College are proud to support the values and traditions of our nation on this day, and the other 360-odd days of each year. We are a two-year college that provides service to the community in many ways: from the 'traditional' mandate of providing low-cost, lower-division college courses for transfer students to providing technical and vocational training for the community, and many other services in between and beyond.
Get involved!
On Constitution Day we make an especial effort to highlight the rights, privileges
and values that our Constitution bestows upon all citizens of these United States.
Good citizenship is more than just knowing what right an individual has when they
wish to exercise it. It involves knowing what rights your neighbors have and allowing
them to exercise said right as well. It involves constant effort to maintain a society
that respects our rights, that allows us to utilize the privileges of citizenship,
and that treats all persons as valued members of the human race, regardless of citizenship
status, ethnicity, gender or socio-economic backgrounds.
This is a goal we at Bakersfield College pursue throughout the year. On Constitution Day we take extra pains to carry that message across. These web-pages have been designed to be a portal to many great original documents and informative sources regarding our Constitution. Please take some time to examine these pages and the artifacts on them. Take the time to become more informed about what our Constitution says, why it says it, and what it means to the modern world.
Be an active participant in your own destiny. Read. Evaluate. Question. Understand. And Act to maintain our liberties! Don't let the efforts of people in the 18th century go to waste because we are too busy to stand up for ourselves and the future. Every generation needs to actively participate if we wish this great experiment to continue and improve.
Resources
- Interactive Constitution
- National Archives Charters of Freedom exhibit
- My Library of Congress creating the United States Exhibit.
- American Memory section of Library of Congress documents from the founding of our nation.
- Library of Congress primary sources from founding of nation.
- National Archives Documents Teach section on founding of our new nation.
- Constitution Day website
- Constitution Day at Purdue University
- UC System Constitution Day page
