The Founding
Fathers are coming to Little Washington to celebrate Constitution Day.
Well, not the real Founding Fathers, of course, but some reasonable facsimiles
of the Revolutionary-era patriots who founded this nation and drew up the
blueprint for its government in the Constitution of the United States. In
commemoration of the 225th anniversary of the signing of the
Constitution, the Friends of Liberty and the Committee for the Republic are
co-sponsoring a Constitution Day Celebration at the Town Hall
in Washington, Va., on Sunday afternoon, September 16.
The free event, which is open to the public, will feature an impressive
delegation of historical impersonators playing the roles of such figures as
James Madison, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick
Henry and Thomas Paine, all in colonial-era costume. A real descendant of
Benjamin Franklin, Mark Skousen of Philadelphia, will be on hand to
portray his famous ancestor. In addition, the Culpeper Minute Men chapter of
the Sons of the American Revolution will provide a uniformed color guard and
fife musicians to provide additional flavor of the colonial period.
Bruce Fein, an attorney from Washington, DC, who portrays James
Madison, the chief architect of the Constitution and the third president of
the United States, will be the featured speaker. He will speak
as Madison, presenting “Madison’s Address on the 225th Anniversary
of the Constitution.”
Fein, who has
made the study of Madison’s life and writings his special interest, is
a Washington, DC, attorney and expert on the Constitution who has
held several high-level Federal positions and frequently testifies before
Congress. The men playing the roles of the Founding Fathers are members of the
Committee for the Republic, a Washington, DC, group that defends and
promotes Constitutional government.. They
include Rappahannock County resident John Henry of Flint Hill
who portrays Thomas Paine. The “Founding Fathers” will ask questions
of Madison after his address and be available to respond to questions
from the citizen audience.
The Constitution Day Celebration will begin at 1:30 p.m. with music and
re-enactors on the grounds outside Town Hall, weather permitting. The program
will begin at 2 p.m. Though the program is open to the public without charge,
space in the Town Hall is limited, so reservations are recommended. To reserve,
call Barbara Cioffi at 540-937-2504,
or send e-mail to: bcioffi@hughes.net.
The Constitution was signed in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787,
after an arduous summer-long convention that forged a governing document that
has guided the operation of America’s government for 225 years. Last May,
the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution declaring
September 17 as Constitution Day in the county and recommending that its
schools, civic groups and citizens commemorate the historic day. The Friends of
Liberty event is a response to that call.
Constitution Day
was established by Federal law in 2004. It is also called Citizenship Day. The
Federal law mandates that all publicly funded educational institutions provide
educational programming on the history of the American Constitution on that day.
In May 2005, the federal Department of Education announced the enactment of
this law and that it would apply to any school receiving federal funds.
Constitution Day
is an opportunity for citizens to celebrate a national birthday party for our
nation. Parents are invited to bring school-age children to the event for its
educational value, and all citizens are invited to take this opportunity to
reflect on the blessings of liberty that are secured by the Constitution, the
bedrock upon which this nation stands.
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