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’We the People’ - Students, DAR celebrate Constitution Week.
- Jeanne Theismann
- Oct 4
- 2 min read
Songs of patriotism filled the air as students from across the city gathered to celebrate the signing of the Constitution Sept. 17 in the City Council chambers at City Hall.
Vice mayor Sarah Bagley signed the official Proclamation commemorating Constitution Week, Sept. 17 – 23, marking the 238th anniversary of the signing of the historic document.
Linda Ferrara welcomed the students and provided a background of the drafting and signing of the Constitution.
Ferrara is the Constitution Week chair of the District 5 Daughters of the Revolution. In 1955, DAR petitioned Congress to set aside Sept. 17-23 annually to be dedicated for the observance of Constitution Week. The resolution was later adopted by the Congress and signed into law on Aug. 2, 1956, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The aims of Constitution Week are to emphasize citizens’ responsibilities to protect the Constitution, to educate people about the role of the U.S. Constitution and encourage the study of historical events leading to the drafting of the U.S. Constitution in September 1787.
Participating in the ceremony were students from Alexandria City High School, Mount Vernon Community School and Douglas MacArthur Elementary School. Noah Salmons led attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Dressed in period attire, David Embry played patriotic music while Vicki Embry, also in period attire, spoke about the role of working women in 1787.
The U.S. Constitution was signed on Sept. 17, 1787. In addition to establishing Constitution Week, the DAR erected a structure built in tribute to the Constitution of the United States. DAR Constitution Hall, which is a performing arts center, opened in 1929, in Washington, D.C.
“Our Constitution is one that has stood the test of time -- longer than any other in world history,” Ferrara said. “It reflects the thinking of many learned Founding Fathers more than 200 years ago and yet it still applies today.”
