[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 128 (Wednesday, September 17, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H8287-H8288]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            CONSTITUTION DAY

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, on September 17, 1787, 216 years ago today, 
the final draft of the Constitution was signed in Philadelphia.

[[Page H8288]]

  The day after a woman asked Benjamin Franklin what sort of government 
we have, he answered, ``A republic, if you can keep it.''
  Beginning on December 7 of this year, five States, Delaware, 
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut, ratified it in 
quick succession; but other States opposed the document saying it 
failed to provide basic protections like freedom of religion, speech 
and the press.
  In February of 1788 a compromise was reached under which 
Massachusetts and the other States would agree to ratify the document 
with the assurance that the amendments would be immediately proposed: 
The Bill of Rights.
  Nearly a year later the Constitution was ratified by the required 9 
out of 13 States.
  Mr. Speaker, today we celebrate the rule of law and the success of a 
great experiment, representative democracy, the core principles upon 
which this Nation was built, laid out in a single document: The 
Constitution, the oldest enduring written national Constitution in the 
world, the granddaddy of them all.

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