[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13689]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           CONSTITUTION WEEK

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. COHEN. On the 17th of September in 1787, the United States 
Constitution was ratified. Senator Byrd in the year 2005 introduced the 
House-passed Constitution Day. So, this weekend, we'll be celebrating 
Constitution Day.
  When I think of the Constitution, I think of Dr. Martin Luther King 
and the right to peacefully assemble, which is enshrined in the First 
Amendment. That meant he could go to Selma, that he could come to 
Washington and fight for civil rights and secure those rights for the 
people of this Nation.
  I also think of women's rights embodied in the 19th Amendment. Women 
were given the right to vote--Tennessee being the perfect 36th State to 
give women that right to vote.
  I think of a woman's right to choose, which is given through the 
Constitution and the Bill of Rights--in the Ninth Amendment, the Fourth 
and through the First and Third as well.
  But that is just the tip of the iceberg. The Constitution embodies 
the fundamental values of this Nation: freedom, fairness, justice, and 
equality. We haven't always lived up to the Constitution's ideals; but 
with the rights it guarantees and the freedoms it protects, we can 
continue to move forward and be the more perfect Union that it 
promises.

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