Today
Is Constitution
Day
(September 17)
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 lasted nearly four months, fraught with debates, discussions, and compromise. >From May 25, 2022 until the signing of the final draft on September 17, 1787, every issue was on the table, every word was scrutinized.
The United States Senate has placed the following on their website,
www.Senate.gov, "The United States celebrates Constitution Day on the 17th of September. On that day in 1787, thirty-nine delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia signed the
Constitution
of the United States. Among the important consequences of that action was the
creation
of the United States Senate. This would not have been possible without the
Great
Compromise reached one month earlier, which established the basis of representation in the Senate and House of Representatives, ending a dispute between the large and small states. New Hampshire adopted the Constitution on June 21, 1788, becoming the necessary ninth state to ensure the document's ratification. The following September, the Pennsylvania legislature elected William Maclay and Robert Morris, the
first
United States senators chosen under the new Constitution. In 2004, Senator
Robert
C. Byrd introduced and the Senate passed legislation to establish a yearly celebration of 'Constitution Day.' "
The following is written by Dorothy Robbins,
[email protected], who serves in California J.A.I.L. as an Associate JAILer-In-Chief, (AJIC).
September 17, 2022
Two hundred years ago today
Our Founding Fathers paved the
way
For government by "We the people. "
Today we celebrate the signing
Of the document combining
Self-government and government by principle.
To Franklin, to Hamilton and to Washington,
To the Pinckneys, to Morris
and to Madison
we owe a debt of gratitude--
Yes, and to those who
pledged their lives,
their fortunes, and their sacred honor--
To Hancock,
Rodney, Sherman, Witherspoon and more,
who paid those vows with faith and
fortitude.
Hail to the Constitution of the U.S.A.
And to the God whose
law we must obey
And thus ensure our union's preservation;
Hail to the
men of sterling character
Past, present, future--you who are standing
here--
Pledged to Liberty's perpetuation.
Let us pray :
To God who
brought us safe thus far:
Keep safe the red, blue, white, the stripe, the
star;
Keep safe our Constitution--word and phrase;
Keep safe our liberty,
our conscience, right to praise;
Keep true good men whose labors shall not
fail
To keep intact our Constitution--and prevail!
To thee, our
Constitution Maker, Keeper, praise!
To thee, our Guardian God, our thanks we
raise!
PLEDGE TO THE CONSTITUTION
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE
TO THE CONSTITUTION OF
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
WHOSE form and
spirit are derived from the Holy Scriptures
in order to guarantee those
God-given rights enumerated in
the Bill of Rights, and thereby to secure to
me and to my posterity
LIFE, LIBERTY, and PROPERTY
AND, in the pursuit
of these ends so limits the
functions of civil government as that
these rights
cannot be abrogated by unprincipled men.
I WILL EVER UPHOLD
AND DEFEND it
against all who would seek to undermine, subvert, or destroy
it,
AND, to this end, as a sacred trust from those
who first uttered
these words,
I PLEDGE MY LIFE, MY FORTUNE AND MY SACRED HONOR,
trusting
in that same Divine Providence
in whom our fore-fathers put their reliance.
Amen.
by Dorothy Robbins�'93