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2013 Constitution Day: Dartmouth Trustee Annette Gordon-Reed '81 to Discuss "Our Founders' Constitution" on 9/18
Today, September 17th, might seem rather unremarkable. The second day of fall term classes, the Dartmouth campus will begin to come back to life with the rush of both new and returning students. But many students may not realize that this is no ordinary day. In fact, it is one of the cornerstones of our nation’s founding; although Constitution Day is a rather low-key holiday, it reminds us of the original document that proclaimed the rights and laws that we still abide by today.
Dartmouth Alumna Annette Gordon-Reed ’81, who continued on to graduate from Harvard Law School in 1984 and is currently a member of Dartmouth’s Board of Trustees, researches the Constitution and its evolution to modern times. She is also well known for her two books: Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy and The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, which went on to win 16 books awards, including the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in history and the National Book Award.
The Rockefeller Center’s Constitution Day Program will feature her lecture, “Our Founders’ Constitution,” to explore to evolution of the Constitution from its creation in Philadelphia to the newer version created in the wake of the Civil War. Delving into the controversies and current events at different points in the Constitution’s development, Gordon-Reed will take a look at how the pillars established by our country’s founders in 1787 still pertain to the American legal system today.
Please join us for Annette Gordon-Reed’s talk, “Our Founders’ Constitution” at our Constitution Day Program in Rockefeller 003 at 4:30 pm, September 18, 2013.
What is Constitution Day?
Constitution Day is an American federal observance that recognizes the adoption of the United States Constitution and those who have become U.S. citizens. It is normally observed on September 17, the day in 1787 that delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document in Philadelphia, PA.