Keeping the Republic, 221 Years Later
Posted on: September 16th, 2008 by Matt Raymond
Tomorrow is Constitution Day, when we celebrate the Sept. 17, 1787, signing of that foundational document. If you’re a student who is putting the finishing touches on an assignment or essay, or a teacher who wants to inspire his or her class, you have come to the right place.
The Library of Congress has excellent Constitution Day resources, including this page that has been updated to reflect materials in the new exhibition “Creating the United States.”
The Law Library of Congress also has a site entitled “A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates.” The THOMAS legislative tracking system also has links to a number of Library sites about the Constitution.
When delegates to the Constitutional Convention adjourned their business, Benjamin Franklin famously replied to a woman who had asked what kind of government had just been formed: “A republic, if you can keep it.”
It was an audacious experiment, launched by a group of men both ordinary and extraordinary, and it has been tested many times. But 221 years later, we are still here.
Share this: Digg | Del.icio.us
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Collections, Education, History, LC Web site.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
This blog is governed by the general rules of respectful civil discourse. You are fully responsible for everything that you post. The content of all comments is released into the public domain unless clearly stated otherwise. The Library of Congress does not control the content posted. Nevertheless, the Library of Congress may monitor any user-generated content as it chooses and reserves the right to remove content for any reason whatever, without consent. Gratuitous links to sites are viewed as spam and may result in removed comments. We further reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to remove a user's privilege to post content on the Library site.
This blog does not represent official Library of Congress communications.
Links to external Internet sites on Library of Congress Web pages do not constitute the Library's endorsement of the content of their Web sites or of their policies or products. Please read our Standard Disclaimer.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I often wonder what kind of people the founding fathers were, and if there are any like them today. It is amazing how much they accomplished with one little document.
September 27th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Our Constitution was written with blood, sweat, and tears…and the loss of wealth; for ideals that have survived 221 years. It is our privelege. and duty to watch and work to keep the Constitution of the United States of America from being reinterpreted by our Justices and misinterpreted by our Government. God bless America and all of her many nations under one free nation, the United States of America.