Manchin's Message from the Hill to the Mountains: A Day to Celebrate Our Constitution and its Blessings of Liberty

Statement

Some dates in our nation's history commemorate events that define who we are as Americans, the most celebrated, of course, being the Fourth of July and the signing of our Declaration of Independence.

Just as defining as our independence, but much less celebrated, is what took place on September 17, 1797, the signing of the United States Constitution, the supreme law of our great land.

It was an extraordinary event, one that George Washington said was "little short of a miracle" because the authors of the Constitution set aside their parochial differences to compromise in ways that produced perhaps the most important document in the history of human liberty.
September 17 used to be known simply as "Citizenship Day," a recognition of naturalized American citizens.

But in 2004, at the urging of our beloved Senator Robert Byrd, Congress changed the official name to "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day" to include a celebration of the signing of Constitution, not with flags and fireworks but with thoughtful appreciation of what this great document has meant to us.

In his long life, Senator Byrd had two great loves -- the United States Senate and the state of West Virginia. But in that long life, his two great passions were his wife -- "fair" Erma, he called her -- and the document from which this great country sprang, the U.S. Constitution.
I have always thought that is why he kept a copy of the Constitution in his coat pocket -- it was easy to reach for quick reference, but in his coat pocket, it also was close to his heart.

Senator Byrd often said that our freedom is "set forth and realized" in our Constitution. And he felt it was vital to study it, honor it, and revere it. That's why he wrote the law that created "Constitution Day" -- to be celebrated every September 17, the anniversary of the signing of the Constitution in Philadelphia 226 years ago.

Senator Byrd gave the inaugural Constitution Day address in 2005 at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, as American soldiers were confronting the enemy that struck us on 9/11.

In that address, he said we needed a "Constitution Day" because every American generation should understand that the Constitution is our declaration not of independence but of freedom.

"Not a day has passed in the history of this great Republic in which the Constitution has not been important … and certainly not today, as religiously inspired terrorist groups strike from wild dark places at the way of life that our Constitution guarantees for us," he said.

Indeed, the ideals of freedom, as "set forth and realized" in our Constitution, are what makes America the beacon of light in those "wild dark places" of the world.

As law goes, the U.S. Constitution is remarkably brief. It runs less than 8,000 words and takes only about a half an hour to read.

But it is one of the most important texts in human history because it contains an idea that in 1787 was revolutionary -- the idea that ordinary citizens, not kings, would govern themselves.

This remarkable idea is set forth at the very beginning of this great document, with three simple words -- "We the people."

It says "We the people," not "We the parties." Nowhere in the Constitution will you find the words "Democrat" or "Republican."

In his Constitution Day address in 2005, Senator Byrd told the story of how Benjamin Franklin, emerging from the Constitutional Convention in 1787, was asked what kind of government had been created. "A Republic," Franklin replied, "if you can keep it."

That is ever the challenge, one well worth considering when we celebrate "Constitution Day" this week.

But I am fully confident that "we the people" of the United States of America, if we are faithful to ourselves and to each other, will "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity" that we ordained and established by our Constitution.

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