Neddy's Palaver

Fly your flags this week, September 16th through 23rd, in tribute to the United States Constitution. This coming week is Constitution Week.

“The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution encourages you to celebrate Constitution Week, September 17 through 23. This year commemorates the two hundred twentieth anniversary of the signing of the Constitution of the United States of America. In 1955, the DAR began the tradition of celebrating Constitution Week by successfully petitioning Congress to set aside this week annually to officially observe the oldest document still in active use that outlines the self-government of a people.” ( www.dar.org, September 2007)

This photograph is from “My Picasa Albums.” It is of Constitution Hall, Washington, DC, which was built in the 1920s by the Daughters of the American Revolution as a tribute to the U.S. Constitution. In 1928, the Daughters of the American Revolution began work on a building as a memorial to the United States Constitution. They commissioned John Russell Pope, architect of the Jefferson Memorial, to design a concert hall. DAR Constitution Hall is the only structure erected as a memorial to the Constitution of the United States of America. DAR is the largest women’s patriotic organization in the world, with over 165,000 members in all fifty states and eleven foreign countries.

• Honoring the Constitution
• Constitution Week 2005
• Constitution Week II

The image, Constitution Hall, was originally uploaded to the Internet by barneykin. It was posted here by Neddy of .

Visit Neddy’s Store

You too can be an White House Intern.

An application and additional information about the program can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/wh-intern.html.

We are still in the celebration of “Constitution Week“. What have your students learned and what do you know about the Constitution which governs us? The National Constitution Center released a survey of 600 students which shows that constitutional knowledge among the young is quite deficient. However, the students are learning something and that something seems to be pop culture. Some of the questions covered these subjects:

1. Name the city where the Constitution was written? (25.5% of students correctly answered Philadelphia.)

1a. What city has the zip code 90210? (75.2% of students knew the answer to that question.)

2. How many senators serve in the U.S. Senate? ( Only 21.2% of respondents answered correctly that it was 100.)

2a. How many members are there in the music group “Hanson?” (81.2% knew the correct number.)

3. What are the first three words of the Constitution? (Just about one third, 35.5% of the respondents could answer “We the people“.

3a. 71.2% of students know that “www” is the first three letters of most Web site addresses.

4. Who is considered the father of the U.S. Constitution? (Only 1.8% of respondents know that it is James Madison, a 36-year-old Virginian.)

4a. Who is considered the father of Microsoft? (58.3% of students answered that it was Bill Gates .

5. What does the Fifth Amendment protect? ( 25% of the respondents knew that it protects against double jeopardy, self incrimination, right to a grand jury, due process, and/or compensation for private property taken for public use.)

5a. What does “The Club” protect? (63.7% knew that it protects against car theft.)

6. Name the three branches of government? (41.2% of respondents answered correctly.)

6a. Give the names of the Three Stooges. (59.2% knew their names.)

Tracked at basil’s blog Covered Dish Picnic.

Today, September 17th, begins Constitution Week. FLY YOUR FLAG ALL WEEK! The first day of Constitution Week is “Citizenship Day“.

By joint resolution of August 2, 1956 (36 U.S.C. 159), the U.S. Congress designated the week beginning September 17 and ending September 23 of each year as “Constitution Week” in recognition of the historic importance of the Constitution and the significant role it plays in our lives today.

In commemoration of the signing of the Constitution and in recognition of the importance of active, responsible citizenship in preserving the Constitution’s blessings for our Nation, the Congress, by joint resolution of February 29, 1952 (36 U.S.C. 153), designated September 17 as “Citizenship Day.”

All citizens who profess to love America and revere its Constitution should have its Preamble memorized and seared upon their hearts.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, 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.

A Knight’s Blog wishes you a “Happy Constitution Day” and discusses more about it. Tracked at Wizbang’s Carnival of Trackbacks XXIX, Outside the Beltway’s “Sunday Drive” and Mudville Gazette’s Open Post.

“ … no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

What wise men were our patriot forefathers who created the Constitution to govern our land. No religious inquisitions were to be held to determine a person’s fitness to hold political office. Although the nation was founded by a majority of Christian Protestants, they insured that Quakers, Catholics, Jews, deists, agnostics and atheists would not be excluded by writing Article VI, Clause 3, into the Constitution of the United States.
Linked at basil’s blog Lunch: 8/10/05 and Right Wing Nuthouse.