September 17 is Constitution Day and Citizenship Day (Constitution Day). This day commemorates the September 17, 1787 signing of the United States Constitution.
Each educational institution that receives Federal funds for a fiscal year is required to hold an educational program about the U.S. Constitution for its students on September 17 (if it falls on a weekend; it should be held in the previous or next week).
Fall 2025
The Department of Political Science, Prelaw Program, Mock Trial Club, and Prelaw Society hosted a Constitution Day event on September 17th. Students, faculty, and staff gathered to handwrite portions of the US Constitution, which is now on display in the Social Sciences Building Atrium.
The act of hand writing allows participants to discover a better understanding of the text and a deeper connection to its meaning. Stop by the SSB Atrium to view this social art project!
Constitution Day commemorates the signing of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787. The annual celebration highlights the importance of civic engagement and the responsibilities we have as citizens.
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Fall 2024
Celebrate Constitution Day and National Voter Registration Day on September 17, 2024 at 12:30 pm in SSB 223! Sponsored by TCNJ Votes and TCNJ Political Science, speakers will discuss voting in democracies abroad, voting rights in the Constitution, the importance of voter engagement, making a plan to vote, and being an informed voter.
National Voter Registration Day is a nonpartisan civic day of action to register voters. Falling on September 17, 2024, this year’s observance coincides with Constitution Day, commemorating the September 17, 1787 signing of the United States Constitution. Together, the two events highlight the importance of civic engagement and the responsibilities we have as citizens.
Fall 2023
Celebrate Constitution Day with Politics Forum! On Friday, September 22 at 12:30 pm in ED 113, TCNJ Politics Forum is hosting this year’s Constitution Day event, “Equal Protection & Education Access Following the End of Affirmative Action,” presented by Dr. Tao Dumas, TCNJ Political Science.
The 14th Amendment of the Constitution states that the government cannot deny any person “equal protection of the laws.” For 45 years the Supreme Court interpreted the Equal Protection Clause as allowing institutions of higher education to consider race in the admissions process to ensure diversity and to remedy past discrimination.
In part one of a two part series, Professor Tao Dumas will explore how the Court’s recent ruling changed the law, with a second discussion examining the impact and implementation of the ruling to follow this fall.
Fall 2022
On Friday, September 16, at 12:30 pm, the Political Science Department’s Politics Forum is hosting this year’s Constitution Day Event entitled “Delving Into Dobbs: Understanding the End of Roe v. Wade.”
Professors Tao Dumas (Political Science), Leigh-Anne Francis (AAS / WGSS), Jackie Cornell (WGSS), and Erin Ackerman (Library / Political Science) will analyze the 2022 Supreme Court decision Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization from their scholarly perspectives.
Fall 2021
On Constitution Day, September 17 at 12:30 pm, Andrew J. B. Fagal, Ph.D., Associate Editor of The Papers of Thomas Jefferson and Craig Hollander, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the TCNJ History Department will present “’A Terror to Others’: Thomas Jefferson, the Constitution, and the Suppression of the Slave Trade Before 1808” on Zoom.
In 1787, the framers of the Constitution struck a bargain to prevent the new federal government from abolishing the transatlantic slave trade until 1808. However, in the two decades following the adoption of the Constitution, there were a number of attempts to limit American participation in the traffic. The Jefferson administration seemed especially willing to push the limits of the Constitutional ban in order to suppress the slave trade. But the administration’s legal and political actions backfired, triggering a massive resurgence of the slave trade to the United States.