Constitution Day

"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."

Those words form the Founding Fathers' preamble in the U.S. Constitution they signed in 1787. Today is Constitution Day, the anniversary of the signing.

Last year, Congress passed a law that required public schools to observe Sept. 17 as Constitution Day. Most schools observed the day Friday.

At Franklin Elementary School in Cape Girardeau, students created and signed their own constitution. Other schools planned to emphasize patriotism Friday.

Constitution Day is a special day, but Missouri students must also receive regular instruction in both the U.S. Constitution and the Missouri Constitution beginning no later than the seventh grade.

The U.S. Constitution is a living document that has been amended 27 times. It was amended to ban slavery, to allow people of any race or color to vote, to allow women to vote and again to allow citizens 18 to 20 years of age to vote and to limit a president to two terms.

The Constitution guarantees our rights and also rights the ship of state when a course change is needed.

Study it, children.