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Happy Constitution Day!

9/17/2015

The Constitutional Convention

We celebrate Constitution Day on September 17th, the day the members of the Constitutional Convention ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1787. Many also celebrate "Constitution Week" and take an entire week to learn about the Constitution.

It's a great opportunity to study, and teach our children, the principles of government that have created unprecedented liberty, peace, and prosperity for millions of Americans.

We can also create a plan to do our part to "preserve, protect and defend" the Constitution.

Whether we celebrate Constitution Day, Constitution Week, or even Constitution Month, here are some helpful resources and ideas to help us learn about this important foundation of our freedom.

Resources to Learn About the Constitution

The United States Constitution

Timeline of the Constitution

Our Lost Constitution Facebook page
Shares wonderful videos and resources telling colorful stories and giving helpful solutions to the significant challenges our nation faces. It is a helpful companion to Senator Mike Lee's excellent book, Our Lost Constitution, an enlightening and entertaining read about what's gone wrong in Washington D.C., how the problems were created by violating the Constitution, and how they can be solved by restoring the Constitution.

Inspirational Quotes About the Constitution

The Preamble Set to Music (three minute video)

The History of the Constitutional Convention (31 podcast episodes of varying lengths)
Remarkable history of the miraculous, and tumultuous, Constitutional Convention.

Founding Brothers (90 minute video)
Story of the birth of our constitutional republic.

We the People (one minute video)
Inspiring short video honoring the Constitution.

We Still Hold These Truths (20 minute video)
Principles that make America great.

We Still Hold These Truths
Leaders' guide about the principles that make America great (goes with book by the same name).

The Patriot’s Guide: What You Can Do for Your Country
PDF from the Heritage Foundation with ways you can make a difference

Consource.org
Online library of constitutional history and resources.

Hillsdale College: Introduction to the Constitution

The Declaration and the Constitution (33:12)
Representative Government (32:11)
Separation of Powers and Limited Gov't. (29:45)
Bureaucratic versus Constitutional Gov't. (29:54)
Conclusion (48:15)

Freedom Project: Principles of the Constitution

Preamble (9:41)
Limited Government (8:02)
Legislative Powers and Limitations (7:23)
Executive Powers and Limitations (9:43)
Judicial Powers and Limitations (10:18)
Bill of Rights, Part 1 (9:30)
Bill of Rights, Part 2 (8:35)
Amendments 11-18 (6:57)
Amendments 19-27 (7:30)

David McCullough on the History of the Constitution

Better than Fiction: McCullough on Constitutional History from The Constitutional Sources Project on FORA.tv

Ideas for Your Constitution Day Celebration

Read the Constitution
Read the United States Constitution. Discuss what a revolutionary document it is and why it is so important to preserve it.

Memorize Something about the Constitution
As a family, learn the Preamble. Some families like to learn it by singing the words. Or you could memorize an inspirational quote about the Constitution.

Learn about How the Constitution was Created
Watch Founding Brothers. Talk about the inspiring story of the birth of our constitutional republic.
Or you could watch Prayer and the Miracle in Philadelphia and explain that after much study, work, and discussion, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention were unable to create and agree on a constitution until they asked for, and received, help from God.

Talk about Your Heritage
Share your feelings about the blessings and responsibilities of being a citizen of the United States of America. Tell stories about your heritage.

Consider What You Can Do
Perhaps one of the most significant things you can do is to consider what you and your family can do to protect and preserve the Constitution, then create a written plan, and begin to take action.

Enjoy Patriotic Music
Play inspiring patriotic music. Sing some of your favorite patriotic songs.

Serve Refreshments
After a lesson, video, or activity, you could serve fun patriotic refreshments.

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Constitution Quotations

9/16/2015

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"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." ~Preamble of the Constitution

"The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.” ~George Washington

"A constitution founded on these principles introduces knowledge among the people, and inspires them with a conscious dignity becoming freemen; a general emulation takes place, which causes good humor, sociability, good manners, and good morals to be general. That elevation of sentiment inspired by such a government, makes the common people brave and enterprising. That ambition which is inspired by it makes them sober, industrious, and frugal." ~John Adams

"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." ~John Adams

"It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty Hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the Revolution." ~James Madison

"Whatever may be the judgement pronounced on the competency of the architects of the Constitution, or whatever may be the destiny of the edifice prepared by them, I feel it a duty to express my profound and solemn conviction ... that there never was an assembly of men, charged with a great and arduous trust, who were more pure in their motives, or more exclusively or anxiously devoted to the object committed to them." ~James Madison

"The example of changing a constitution by assembling the wise men of the state, instead of assembling armies, will be worth as much to the world as the former examples we had give them. The constitution, too, which was the result of our deliberation, is unquestionably the wisest ever yet presented to men." ~Thomas Jefferson

In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. ~Thomas Jefferson

"I beg I may not be understood to infer that our general Convention was Divinely inspired when it formed the new federal Constitution . . . yet I must [admit] I have so much faith in the general government of the world by Providence that I can hardly conceive a transaction of such momentous importance . . . should be suffered to pass without being in some degree influenced, guided, and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent, and beneficent Ruler in Whom all inferior spirits “live and move and have their being” [Acts 17:28]." ~Benjamin Franklin

“In the formation of our constitution the wisdom of all ages is collected--the legislators of antiquity are consulted, as well as the opinions and interests of the millions who are concerned. In short, it is an empire of reason.” ~Noah Webster

‎"Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world." ~Daniel Webster

"The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation -- enlightened as it is -- if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of designing men.” ~Samuel Adams

"The Constitution...must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties." ~Abraham Lincoln

"All of us have an obligation to study the Constitution and participate actively in the system of self-government it establishes." ~Ronald Reagan

"We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights. That among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, its is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government..." ~Declaration of Independence

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Remembering September 11

9/11/2015

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Image Source: Fox News

For many Americans, September 11, 2001 is a day we will never forget.

The brutal attacks that took the lives of 2,977 Americans, and created lasting loss and injury for thousands more, transformed our country.

But by September 12th, shock and horror were being replaced with increased faith, patriotism, kindness and resolve to defend our country and our God-given rights.

A Story for Children: "The Little Chapel That Stood"

Looking for a meaningful story to share with your children on 9/11? Here is one on video.

The message of "The Little Chapel That Stood" is that America is a great nation. Terror is temporary and does not stay, but the freedom and courage of the American people are extraordinary and abiding.

The actual story begins at 7:43. If you want to skip to it, click on the time bar.

Inspiring Tributes and Stories

* The Hero Who Predicted 9/11

* Man in the Red Bandanna

* Boatlift -- An Inspirational September 11 Story

* Beautiful 9/11 Tribute: There She Stands

* Montage from September 11

* Some of 9/11's Most Courageous Heroes

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Beautiful 9/11 Tribute: There She Stands

9/10/2015

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Hope you enjoy this beautiful tribute!

"Just when you think it might be over
Just when you think the fight is gone
Someone will risk his life to raise her
There she stands"

There She Stands

by Michael W. Smith

When the night seems to say
All hope is lost, gone away
But I know, I'm not alone
By the light she stands

There she waves, faithful friend
Shimmering stars, westward wind
Show the way, carry me
To the place she stands

Just when you think it might be over
Just when you think the fight is gone
Someone will risk his life to raise her
There she stands

There she flies, clear blue skies
Reminds us with red of those that died
Washed in white by the brave
In their dream she stands

When evil calls itself a martyr
When all your hopes come crashing down
Someone will pull her from the rubble
There she stands

We've seen her flying torn and tattered
We've seen her stand the test of time
And through it all the fools have fallen
There she stands

By the dawn's early light
And through the fight, she stands

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Happy Constitution Day!

David McCullough on the History of the Constitution

Constitution Quotations

Remembering September 11

A Story for Children: "The Little Chapel That Stood"

Beautiful 9/11 Tribute: There She Stands

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