[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 186 (Thursday, September 24, 2020)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 60337-60338]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-21312]



[[Page 60335]]

Vol. 85

Thursday,

No. 186

September 24, 2020

Part III





The President





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Proclamation 10077--Constitution Day, Citizenship Day, and Constitution 
Week, 2020



Proclamation 10078--National POW/MIA Recognition Day, 2020
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  Federal Register / Vol. 85 , No. 186 / Thursday, September 24, 2020 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

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                Proclamation 10077 of September 17, 2020

                
Constitution Day, Citizenship Day, and 
                Constitution Week, 2020

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                In the summer of 1787, fifty-five delegates from 
                throughout the fledgling United States gathered at the 
                Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, intent on 
                erecting a government that would stand the test of time 
                and protect hard-won freedoms secured during the 
                Revolutionary War. Two hundred and thirty-three years 
                later, the document they produced--our Constitution--
                remains the bedrock of our system of government, one 
                rooted in equality under the law and an unyielding 
                commitment to individual liberty. On this day and 
                during this week, we celebrate our great founding 
                charter as an enduring beacon of freedom and strive 
                toward active citizenship in service of its ideals.

                With profound wisdom, the Framers of our Constitution 
                divided political power among three separate and 
                coequal branches, and further between the Federal and 
                State governments, ensuring that a government of the 
                people, by the people, and for the people would remain 
                accountable to its citizens, from whom all legitimate 
                political power is derived. Our Constitution outlines a 
                government that encourages individuals to flourish 
                while still empowering the state to perform necessary 
                functions like protecting law and order and providing 
                essential public goods. This revolutionary concept has 
                made and continues to make our Nation the most free and 
                just society in the world. Because its principles are 
                timeless and rooted in truth, our Constitution has 
                fostered freedom at home, as well as the liberation of 
                countless oppressed peoples around the world. In the 
                more than 2 centuries since its ratification, it has 
                served as an unparalleled engine for human progress.

                A key feature of our Constitution is an independent 
                Federal judiciary, which helps safeguard its structure 
                and ensure individual rights. In Federalist 78, 
                Alexander Hamilton describes the proper role of the 
                courts as keeping the legislature ``within the limits 
                assigned to their authority,'' handing down decisions 
                in accordance with the principle that ``a constitution 
                is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges, as a 
                fundamental law.'' In reverence of the wisdom of the 
                Founders, I have made it a top priority to nominate to 
                the Federal bench only those judges who have 
                demonstrated a commitment to enforcing the Constitution 
                as written. To date, I have nominated and the Senate 
                has confirmed more than 240 judges who will faithfully 
                adhere to this foundational judicial principle, 
                including two incredible Supreme Court Justices.

                While freedom-loving Americans rightfully venerate and 
                defend our Constitution, we must also remain cognizant 
                that there are those in our society who wish to tear 
                down our institutions and threaten our sacred 
                constitutional freedoms. In recent months, statues of 
                great American heroes like Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. 
                Grant, and Theodore Roosevelt have been threatened, 
                torn down, defaced, and destroyed. In cities throughout 
                our country, radical groups have attacked monuments 
                honoring the unrivaled contributions our Founding 
                Fathers made to human freedom. These groups and 
                individuals are attempting to topple constitutional law 
                and order--the very foundation of self-government--by 
                attacking the Constitution and the integrity of our

[[Page 60338]]

                national heroes, falsely decrying our country and its 
                institutions as evil and unjust.

                As President, I will never allow such heinous attacks 
                to go unpunished. I will continue to honor the legacy 
                of our history by protecting our freedoms and 
                safeguarding our Constitution and the boundless 
                opportunity it affords to the people of our great 
                Nation. We should always celebrate the brave Americans 
                who fought tyranny to secure the very liberty that 
                these extremists take for granted. To this end, in June 
                of this year, I signed an Executive Order on Protecting 
                American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues, and 
                Combating Recent Criminal Violence, ensuring that 
                anarchy and base criminal acts will no longer tarnish 
                memorials built to honor the heroes who have served our 
                country and defended our Constitution. On this 
                Constitution and Citizenship Day, and during this 
                Constitution Week, we recommit to upholding our 
                constitutional system, to honoring its Framers and 
                those who have sacrificed to defend it--who knew the 
                true price of liberty--and to embracing the duty we as 
                citizens have to preserve the society it has built.

                The Congress, by joint resolution of February 29, 1952 
                (36 U.S.C. 106), designated September 17 as 
                ``Constitution Day and Citizenship Day,'' and by joint 
                resolution of August 2, 1956 (36 U.S.C. 108), requested 
                that the President proclaim the week beginning 
                September 17 and ending September 23 of each year as 
                ``Constitution Week.''

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the 
                United States, do hereby proclaim September 17, 2020, 
                as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, and September 
                17, 2020, through September 23, 2020, as Constitution 
                Week. On this day and during this week, we celebrate 
                the citizens and the Constitution that have made 
                America the greatest Nation this world has ever known. 
                In doing so, we recommit ourselves to the enduring 
                principles of the Constitution and thereby ``secure the 
                Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity.''

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord 
                two thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                fifth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2020-21312
Filed 9-23-20; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F0-P