by Marjorie Kinkade
Creston
Sept. 17-23 was proclaimed as Constitution Week when it was signed into public law No. 915 Aug. 2,1956, by President Dwight Eisenhower.
Earlier than that, Abraham Lincoln said, “Our safety and our liberty depends on the preservation of the Constitution of the United States as our forefathers made it inviolate. The people of the United States are the masters of congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”
Signed 229 years ago on Sept. 17, 1787, by 55 delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, the Constitution of the United States of America has been a guide for our good. It has enabled us to prosper as a nation for many years. Many people do not even know that Constitution Week exists. We of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) are trying to help explain what it is all about. Posters and displays are being placed in the towns of our area by the members for you to see. Mayors have signed proclamations, and there are articles in the newspapers and on the radio and TV. Check out these things and think about what the Constitution means to you. You are all invited to ring a bell at 3 p.m. Sept. 17 to join others in “Bells Across America.” Why not invite your friend in and make a party of it? While you are together, you might read the preamble and think about what it says:
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
We must understand that the privileges we have come to expect also come with responsibilities. Our commitment should be to our government as well as to our fellow men and women. We need to teach our children to be respectable citizens and help them to get a good education. We must help in improving our communities and become better citizens ourselves.
Fly your flag on during Constitution Week and say the pledge as you raise it.