For Constitution Day, Cathy McMorris Rodgers delivers 600 copies of America’s founding document to Eastern Washington students

WASHINGTON – Wednesday is Constitution Day, which commemorates the signing of the United States’ founding document by the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787.

To mark the occasion, former Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and the leadership institute she launched in June distributed more than 600 copies of the Constitution to schools across Eastern Washington, the institute announced on Tuesday. The documents are part of kits that also include worksheets and games along with a video message from the retired congresswoman, who ended her 20-year career in the House last year.

“Constitution Day is a chance to renew America’s promise of liberty and opportunity,” McMorris Rodgers said in a statement. “The Constitution is the framework for this great experiment in self-government, and by teaching its enduring principles, we equip the next generation to love freedom and live its responsibilities.”

Congress passed a law in 1954 to officially observe Constitution Day and Citizenship Day on Sept. 17 of each year, and in 2004 the House and Senate amended the law to urge state and local governments “to make plans for the proper observance of Constitution Day and Citizenship Day,” and to educate Americans about “their responsibilities and opportunities as citizens of the United States and of the State and locality in which they reside.”

“Too often, Constitution Day is overlooked or reduced to a brief mention,” McMorris Rodgers said in a statement, adding that the goal of her leadership institute is “to make this day a true celebration of freedom, sparking curiosity and conversation about the values that unite us as Americans.”