Until recently, this was not a widely recognized or celebrated holiday. That has changed because of a clause in the omnibus spending bill passed by Congress in December 2004. The late Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia authored the clause that requires all schools receiving federal assistance to offer a “Constitution Day” program commemorating the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787. In addition, federal agencies will hold commemorative events and all new federal employees will be given materials about the Constitution when they are hired.

Senator Byrd has represented the State of West Virginia since his election to the Senate in 1958 until his death in June, 2010, and is often considered the senator most knowledgeable about the Constitution.

A display of materials on the Constitution will be on the first floor of  the McNichols Campus Library to commemorate this key document in the history of the United States.

A collection of electronic resources on many aspects of the Constitution, developed by the Detroit Area Library Network (DALNET), can be accessed at: http://www.dalnet.lib.mi.us/constitution/

The links below are a small selection from the thousands of websites that are available on the topic; they include information about the Constitution and link to many sources in the National Archives and elsewhere.

The Constitution of the United States: links to the text of the Constitution, high quality downloadable images of the original document, and additional information on historic documents in the National Archives.

http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution.html

Constitution Resources: this page links to many free resources about the Constitution and the celebration of Constitution Day.

http://www.free.ed.gov/subjects.cfm?subject_id=19

National Constitution Center: this links to the Center, which is located near the site of the Constitution’s writing in Philadelphia. The Center offers many programs about the Constitution, some of which are presented online.

http://www.constitutioncenter.org/

Constitution Day, Inc.: this is a non-profit organization whose cite displays a variety of resources about the Constitution.

http://www.constitutionday.com/

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