WHEREAS, September 17, 2024, will mark the 237th anniversary of the framing of the Constitution of the United States of America at the Constitutional Convention; and

WHEREAS, To honor the timeless principles enshrined in our Constitution, the Congress has, by joint resolution of February 29, 1952, (36 U.S.C. 106), designated September 17 as “Constitution Day and Citizenship Day”; and

WHEREAS, By joint resolution of August 2, 1956, (36 U.S.C. 108), the Congress further requested that the President proclaim the week beginning September 17 and ending September 23 of each year as “Constitution Week”; and

WHEREAS, It is appropriate and fitting that Californians commemorate the historical contributions that the United States Constitution has made to citizens and its significance in preserving the individual freedoms, liberties, and common welfare of the people who live in the United States; and

WHEREAS, The United States Constitution was written in the same Pennsylvania State House where the Declaration of Independence was signed, and where George Washington received his commission as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army; and

WHEREAS, The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was called to revise the Articles of Confederation, which failed to vest the federal government with the necessary powers to ensure the physical and financial security of the new nation; and

WHEREAS, The delegates to the convention fiercely deliberated for 100 days with only 10 days of rest; and

WHEREAS, Despite the geographic, economic, and cultural differences that threatened to divide the United States in its infancy, the framers came to many compromises through open and civil discourse to secure and establish the country as we know it today; and

WHEREAS, The framers of the United States Constitution were especially concerned with limiting the power of government and securing the liberty of citizens through the doctrines of the separation of powers, checks and balances, and explicit guarantees of individual liberty; and

WHEREAS, Section 4 of Article IV of the United States Constitution protects popular sovereignty for all Americans by guaranteeing a Republican form of government in each state; and

WHEREAS, The spirit of the United States Constitution is one of humility. The framers had the foresight to recognize their own human fallibility and provided the mechanism to amend and correct the shortcomings of our original United States Constitution; and

WHEREAS, Americans have continued to pursue a more perfect union as abolitionists, suffragists, and civil rights activists, and have successfully amended the United States Constitution to strengthen the protections provided to all Americans under the law. In so doing, they render the moral resolve of our nation stronger and clearer; and

WHEREAS, Californians join their fellow Americans across all states on this day in remembrance of the nation’s founding ideals and seeking unity as one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all; and

WHEREAS, The original United States Constitution is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.;

WHEREAS, The National Constitution Center offers extensive virtual and in-person programming supported by educational materials for learners of all ages’,; now, therefore, be it