Online Exhibit Celebrating the U.S. Constitution
Senator Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia), considered by many of his Senate colleagues the most learned student of the nation’s founding documents, accomplished a long-standing goal by getting a rider passed in the 2005 Appropriations Bill. The law designates September 17 as Constitution Day. It requires schools and federal agencies to hold educational programs on the Constitution on the anniversary date when, in 1787, the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document.
Of those 55 signers, the University of Houston Libraries’ Special Collections Department owns a number of books written by, and original documents signed by, some of those delegates to the Constitutional Convention: Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Charles Pinckney, and George Washington. This online mini-exhibit is presented during the time in which Constitution Day falls, this year from September 15 — 26, on the TV monitor in the library lobby.
For further information about the U.S. Constitution and Constitution Day, see www.constitutionday.us and www.constitutioncenter.org.