DAR Chapter celebrates Constitution Day

The Major Nathaniel Mitchell Daughters of the American Revolution Chapter in Georgetown held its annual Constitution Day ceremony Sept. 17 on The Circle.

The tradition of celebrating the Constitution was started by the DAR when it petitioned U.S. Congress to set aside Sept. 17-23 each year for observance of Constitution Week. A resolution was adopted and signed into law Aug. 2, 1955, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The Constitution contains a preamble and seven articles that describe the way the government is structured and how it operates. The first three articles establish the three branches of government and their powers: legislative (Congress), executive (office of the president,) and judicial (federal court system). A system of checks and balances prevents any one of these separate powers from becoming dominant. Articles four through seven describe the relationship of the states to the federal government, establish the Constitution as the supreme law of the land, and define the amendment and ratification processes.

The key principles include limited government, republicanism, checks and balances, separation of powers, federalism and popular sovereignty.

But as the ratification process took place, only four of the 13 colonies voted in favor. Anti-federalists states wanted a clear denunciation of the rights of the people, leading James Madison to pen the original 17 amendments known as the Bill of Rights, said speaker Dennis Schrader, a Georgetown attorney for 50 years and vice president of the National Sons of the American Revolution. There are now 27 amendments.

For more information, go to archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution/what-does-it-say.