Constitution Week set for Sept. 17-23, bell ringing Sept. 17

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By Linda Hobbs

Special to The PREVIEW

Pagosa Springs is to participate in the Bells Across America in celebration of Constitution Week 2018. The town bell at Lewis Street and U.S. 160, the Community United Methodist Church bell and others will be rung at 2 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 17, joining in the annual national celebration.

Join the community celebration of the U.S. Constitution by stopping by or ringing your bell(s) at 2 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 17.

In 1955, the Daughters of the American Revolution petitioned the U.S. Congress to set aside Sept. 17-23 annually to be dedicated for the observation of Constitution Week. The resolution was later adopted by the U.S. Congress and signed into public law on Aug. 2, 1956, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The Pagosa Springs Town Council has proclaimed Sept. 17 -23 as Constitution Week in the town (see last week’s SUN) as petitioned by the Sarah Platt Decker Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. The local Daughters have created a display in the Community United Methodist Church Thrift Store window to celebrate the occasion.

This year marks the 231st birthday of the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Constitution is the greatest legal document in our land and has been the model over 100 other countries as they form their governing documents. The signing of the Constitution took place on Sept. 17, 1787, at the Pennsylvania State House (now called Independence Hall) in Philadelphia. And begins with the well-known preamble, “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.”

The U.S. Constitution contains seven articles and 27 amendments; the most recent amendment was proposed in 1789, but was not ratified until 1992.