According to Public Law 108-447, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005:
"Each educational institution that receives Federal funds for a fiscal year shall hold an educational program on the United States Constitution on September 17 of such year for the students served by the educational institution."
The PDF version of this lengthy public law is available through GPO Access. The Constitution Day language is near the end of the law, in Division J – Other Matters. The act is also located in print in the document stacks of Milner Library under the call number, AE 2.110:108-447.
Constitution and Related Historical Documents
Constitution Main Page (GPO Access)
The Government Printing Office produces the Constitution in several formats, and links to them all at this site. This page showcases the Congressional Research Service (CRS) publication The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation: Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in its 1992 edition with supplements for 1996, 1998, and 2000. It can be searched or browsed, and each section has a unique URL for building direct links to the section in HTML or PDF format.
Other versions that GPO has printed as Senate or House documents are available in plain text and PDF. These include The U.S. Constitution with the Declaration of Independence, The U.S. Constitution as Amended, with Unratified Amendments & Analytical Index, and The Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence, Pocket Edition.
Primary Documents in American History: United States Constitution (Library of Congress)
The Library of Congress brings together links to its various online resources, including the Broadsides collection described below, for this one-stop collection guide. One highlight is the set of digitized volumes from Max Farrand's The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787. Farrand’s Records includes the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention, and the notes and letters of James Madison and other participants.
This site also links to the digitized papers of James Madison from the Library’s Manuscript Division, other historic collections, and a selective bibliography for adult and younger readers.
Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention Broadsides Collection (Library of Congress)
Part of the Library’s American Memory offerings, this digitized collection holds hundreds of documents relating to the work of the Continental Congress and the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. It features an early printing of the Constitution.
The Broadsides Collection page also links to supplemental teaching material. The web presentation “To Form a More Perfect Union” includes a section on Creating a Constitution, which links to the documents—including the 1787 committee draft of the Constitution—within the context of the historical narrative. The Broadsides page also links to related curriculum material called Collection Connections. Note that the American Memory Collections provide a “Document ID” at the bottom of each item record; the URL can be used for linking purposes.
Federalist Papers on Thomas (Library of Congress)
The series of essays known as the Federalist Papers was written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison to explain—and to encourage New Yorkers to ratify—the proposed United States Constitution. The essays are often used for guidance in understanding the intentions of those who drafted the Constitution. This HTML version of the Federalist Papers is set up so that each essay can be linked to individually.
Charters of Freedom: Constitution of the United States (National Archives)
The Archives presents high resolution images of the fading parchment Constitution and Bills of Rights. (The image files are quite large. For technical tips on using them, see the high resolution downloads page.)
This site also features a brief history of the creation of the Constitution, roughly one hundred questions and answers concerning the document and its impact, and biographies of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention.
The Constitution (United States Senate)
This version places each section of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and subsequent amendments alongside a brief and simple explanations.
