Colors of the Constitution [Updated]
What are the colors of the Constitution? Tan, perhaps “buff,” and black, oh, and white and red. The tan color comes from the untanned but soaked, stretched, scraped smooth and dried animal hide. The black, fading to grey with the centuries, comes from the iron gall ink.
The actual name of this federal minor holiday, marked with ceremonies but not designated for time off from work or school, is “Constitution Day and Citizenship Day.”
Constitution Day and Citizenship Day is observed each year on September 17 to commemorate the signing of the Constitution on September 17, 1787, and “recognize all who, by coming of age or by naturalization, have become citizens.”
Quote of the Day: Constitution Day
Pro [from Federalist No. 10]:
The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other States. A religious sect may degenerate into a political faction in a part of the Confederacy; but the variety of sects dispersed over the entire face of it must secure the national councils against any danger from that source. A rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other improper or wicked project, will be less apt to pervade the whole body of the Union than a particular member of it; in the same proportion as such a malady is more likely to taint a particular county or district, than an entire State.
In the extent and proper structure of the Union, therefore, we behold a republican remedy for the diseases most incident to republican government. And according to the degree of pleasure and pride we feel in being republicans, ought to be our zeal in cherishing the spirit and supporting the character of Federalists.
Constitution Day Outside Philadelphia
I write from Villanova University where I gave a Constitution Day talk this afternoon. When the video goes up, I will post it here. In the meantime, I direct your attention to this morning’s Philadelphia Inquirer, which published an op-ed I wrote as a teaser. Here is how it began:
Sept. 17 marks Constitution Day. In Philadlephia, 228 years ago, George Washington and his fellow delegates subscribed their names to a copy of the proposed constitution. They hoped the states would call conventions to consider the document and that at least nine would ratify it and summon into existence what they described in the preamble as “a more perfect Union,” which would “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty” to themselves and their “Posterity.”
As this language suggests, nearly all of those who had attended the federal convention had high hopes. None, however, were certain that the proposed constitution would suffice. They were, they knew, engaged in an experiment.
On This Constitution Day, Is There Any Hope For Our Founding Document?
It’s Constitution Day! My husband is off giving a paid speech at a midwestern university. It turns out the Feds require some sort of recognition of the day in higher education. I’m happy enough that our family can profit by this, but distressed about the bureaucratic overreach that demands it. He first wrote an interesting speech detailing the parallels between our own contemporary circumstances and the decline of the Roman Empire, but when the organizers emailed the program, it turned out he was supposed to talk about his latest book, The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom. Doh. I guess the other speech is destined for a magazine or SSRN or something.
Anyway, I’m curious to hear what you all see as the future of our wonderful Constitution. It has been nearly buried by the bureaucratic state, overweening judiciary, and imperial president. We the People seem to have been lost in the shuffle.
Do you think there is any way to reinstate the Constitution as our guiding American document and give the power back to We the People? I will admit that the undelivered speech was not very optimistic. When he related it to me a few weeks ago in a practice run, I told him that he could not end his speech on such a negative note — though his law professor colleagues told him it was too optimistic.
