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The History of Constitution Week - Ring those Bells!

One of my ancestors was John Lincoln, a private out of Connecticut in the Revolutionary War. Through his service, I joined DAR (National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution) like my grandmother before me. In 1955, DAR set out to commemorate the signing of the Constitution with the declaration of Constitution Week.

This morning, I gave a presentation to the White Mountains Chapter on the history surrounding this (see video) at Whitefield Library in Whitefield, NH.

This September 17 is the 237th anniversary of the bells ringing out for the first reading of the U.S. Constitution, which is, to date, the oldest written constitution. And at 4 pm on that day, we’ll once again ring our bells in echoes of our ancestors’ celebration of the achievements their sacrifices allowed.

Video captioning by ClipChamp (Microsoft). Video copyright Alicia M Prater, 2024.

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Discussion about this podcast

I LOVE the Constitution. Don't like the Electoral College? If there enough people who agree with you, the Constitution can be changed. I've been yelling at my TV and radio when people who obviously don't understand the Constitution want to restrict free speech. Lying is protected. Disinformation is protected. Unpopular opinions are protected. Disagreeing with the government is protected. Hate speech is protected. We put up with it so that we can have open discussion and voices are not silenced. I'm sure those who opposed equal rights wanted to silence Martin Luther King Jr. and others because they were "lying," "promoting violence," and engaging in "hate speech." Those voices changed our country for the better. On the flip side, pornography used to be restricted but is now protected as free speech. I don't feel that has improved our country. My choices are to use my free speech to point out the psychological damage it does or to ignore it, but I don't get to shut it down. There are some restrictions to free speech, but not many. See https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12180 for some examples. And the example I was taught in school -- You cannot yell FIRE in a theater unless there really is a fire.

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Alicia M Prater