Constitution Day
Why Do We Celebrate
Constitution Day?
“If it be asked, What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? The answer would be, An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws. . . . [A] sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.”
— Alexander Hamilton, 1794
Constitution Day Celebration in Washington, D.C.
Since 2010, Hillsdale College has hosted an annual Constitution Day Celebration in Washington, D.C., to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787. The two-day program features dinner and luncheon speeches, debates, and roundtable discussions that explore the continuing relevance of the Founders’ Constitution for American politics today.
Each year, scholars, politicians, journalists, and other commentators gather to discuss the state of constitutional government in America.
Can you recite the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution? Listen to Hillsdale Academy’s first grade class recite this beautiful and succinct introduction to government of, by, and for the people.
Request a Pocket Constitution
As part of its nationwide educational outreach, Hillsdale College has distributed more than 4.5 million copies of its Pocket Constitution, containing the complete text of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
Hillsdale Online Courses Highlights
Pursue the education necessary for freedom and happiness in courses taught by Hillsdale College’s faculty.
If you enjoyed these Highlights, enroll in “Introduction to the Constitution” and “Constitution 101.”
The Constitution established a limited government, but a government with sufficient powers to protect Americans’ God-given rights to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” This course examines the design and purpose of the Constitution, the challenges it faced during the Civil War, how it has been undermined for over a century by progressivism and post-1960s liberalism, and how limited government under the Constitution might be revived.
The U.S. Constitution: A Reader
The U.S. Constitution: A Reader is made up of original source documents that bear upon the founding of the American republic, the making of its Constitution, and the struggle to preserve that document and govern under it to the current day.
The Reader is used in the Hillsdale College core course on the Constitution required of every student. About one-half of Hillsdale’s curriculum is to be found in its core, which is organized to present the basic and necessary elements of a liberal arts education-an education oriented to the ultimate purposes in human life, the goods at which all activity is properly aimed.
Defend Liberty 365 Days a Year, Month After Month, by Joining the Liberty & Learning Society
The Liberty & Learning Society is Hillsdale’s exclusive monthly giving group for our most generous and loyal friends. Members commit to a recurring monthly gift that automatically advances the important work of defending liberty through education.
This regular monthly support defends liberty 365 days a year and helps Hillsdale’s mission long-term – month in, month out, year after year. Your membership allows us to devote even more of each dollar donated to the most important work of restoring liberty through education.
In honor of Constitution Day, we set a goal to add 1,787 new members to the Liberty & Learning Society. These new members will be essential to maintaining our genuine and principled independence by refusing EVERY PENNY of government funding—even indirectly in the form of federal or state student loans and grants.
Learn more and join the Liberty & Learning Society today.