Constitution Week Sept 17 – 23: Bells Across America will be Ringing

The members of the Sarah Riggs Humphreys-Mary Silliman Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) wish to remind everyone that there will be a week-long celebration in a few weeks (September 17-23) to commemorate the signing of our Constitution 236 years ago.

We urge everyone, young and old, to celebrate the beginning of Constitution Week on Sunday, September 17th by ringing bells. During colonial and early days of our country, bells – church bells, firehouse bells, town and city hall bells – were used to call people together, to alert them to some important announcement or event.

In Philadelphia, PA, at 4:00pm on September 17, 1787, the bells were used to call people together for the first public reading of our new Constitution.

Two hundred and thirty-six years later, let’s Ring Out in Celebration. The Sarah Riggs Humphreys-Mary Silliman Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution encourages everyone to celebrate this historic event. The U.S. Constitution is the oldest constitution still in active use in the world today and is the basic document of our republic, which protects the individual liberties of all citizens through written law.

George Washington offered this petition: “I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have the United States in his holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the field, and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy….Amen.”

The DAR perpetuates the memory and spirit of the men and women who won American independence. Any woman who is lineally descended from an ancestor who aided the patriot cause during the American Revolution may be eligible to join. The DAR is a nonprofit lineage society focused on historical preservation, community education and patriotism. For more information visit www.sarahriggshumphreysDAR.org