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September 17 is a day that I customarily set-aside to walk around various business communities armed with pocket copies of the U.S Constitution and ask people I pass by: “What day is it?” “It’s Tuesday” was one answer. “National Donut Day” was another. But of all the hundreds of people I have asked only a handful know that September 17 is Constitution Day-one of the most significant days in U.S. History. It is the day that the Constitutional Convention ended in 1787.
On August 2, 1956, President Eisenhower enacted Constitution Week acting on a resolution passed by Congress at the behest of the Daughters of the American Revolution. In 2004, Congress passed Constitution Day also known as Citizenship Day. The act also mandated that all schools receiving federal funds must provide educational programs on Constitution Day. I have been invited to speak at some of these schools as a result of this act and the first thing I tell them is that the act is unconstitutional since the U.S. Constitution grants no power to the federal government to fund school.
New Hampshire had two delegates to the convention: Nicholas Gilman and John Langdon. They didn’t arrive until July 23-two months after it convened. The reason for their tartines was that New Hampshire couldn’t afford to pay the expenses for them to attend, but Langdon covered the expenses for the both of them.
Nicholas Gilman was born in Exeter in 1755. He served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War and rose to the rank of Captain. From 1786-1788, he served as a member to the Continental Congress. As a delegate to the Constitution Convention, there is no record of him making any speeches, but he played a significant role in getting the Constitution ratified in New Hampshire. About the Constitution, Gilman said that it was “the best that could meet the unanimous concurrence of the States in Convention; it was done by bargain and compromise, yet, notwithstanding its imperfections, on the adoption of it depends-in my feeble judgment- whether we shall become a respectable nation, or a people torn to pieces … and rendered contemptible for ages.”
He was one of the original members of the Order of Cincinnati founded by Henry Knox. He served as one of New Hampshire’s first members in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1789-1797. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1805 by the New Hampshire legislature and died while in office in 1814.
John Langdon was born in Portsmouth in 1741. He was a delegate to the 2nd Continental Congress 1777-1776 but resigned in June prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He supervised the building of several naval ships including the Ranger which was command by John Paul Jones. He raised Langdon’s Company of Light Horse Volunteers and saw action with his unit in the Battles of Bennington, Saratoga, and Rhode Island. As a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, he spoke out against a proposal made by James Madison. He served as “president” of New Hampshire from 1785-1786 and again from 1788-1789. He was one of the first U.S. senators from New Hampshire, and later served as a legislator of NH from 1801-1805 and then governor of New Hampshire from 1805-181 He passed away in 1819.
On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution with a close vote of 56-51. The Cultural Marxists want us to denounce our nation’s incredible history. Let’s disappoint them. Let’s celebrate Constitution Day, and other important dates in U.S. History, and National Coming Out Day isn’t one of them. The best way to honor the memory of these men and the others who gave us the U.S Constitution is to read it, share your knowledge of it, host a Constitution study group either in your home, local library, or church. And, above all, hold your elected officials at all levels accountable to the oath they take to uphold the Constitution.
For free pocket copies of the U..S. Constitution or help organizing a Constitution study group, please reach out to me at [email protected].
Hal Shurtleff is the Director and Co-Founder of Camp Constitution. The mission of Camp Constitution is to enhance understanding of our Judeo-Christian moral heritage, our American heritage of courage and ingenuity, including the genius of our United States Constitution, and the application of free enterprise, which together gave our nation an unprecedented history of growth and prosperity, making us the envy of the world. You can learn more on the Camp Constitution website.
