    [United States Statutes at Large, Volume 132, 115th Congress, 2nd Session]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    Proclamation 9788 of September 14, 2018

    Constitution Day, Citizenship Day, and Constitution Week, 2018

    By the President of the United States of America

    A Proclamation

    On this day and during this week, we celebrate the signing of our
    Constitution, which has proved that Government established by the people
    through reflection and deliberate choice can thrive and endure, rather
    than devolve into chaos and upheaval. Our Nation began with the
    ``honorable determination,''; as James Madison put it, ``to rest all our
    political experiments on the capacity of mankind for self-government.'';
    We recognize the Constitution's role in securing for our country the
    blessings of liberty; we salute the service members, statesmen, and
    citizens who have defended it; and we commit ourselves to the active
    citizenship that self-government requires.
    The Framers established a strong Federal Government able to provide the
    energy and stability its people require while simultaneously limiting
    its reach and reserving all powers not expressly assigned to the Federal
    Government to the States and the people. When the Federal Government
    acts, it must do so with accountability. We are a Nation of laws, and
    laws must be enacted by the people's elected representatives. The
    Constitution ensures that the Government acts only with the consent of
    the governed, as expressed by the representatives responsible to them.
    That vital safeguard is lost when obscure and unaccountable regulators
    impose unforeseen mandates on the American people or twist the plain
    meaning of statutes to regulate without authority from the Congress. Our
    constitutional system will be ``of little avail to the people,'';
    Madison said, when the law ``is little known, and less fixed.'';
    In my Inaugural Address, I promised to return power to the American
    people. As President, I have instructed my Cabinet and all agency
    officials to regulate only when, and how, authorized by duly enacted
    statute. I have also instructed agencies to eliminate regulations that
    are ineffective, that fail to address real-world problems, that are
    needlessly burdensome, and that prevent Americans from designing their
    own innovative solutions. I call on Federal agencies to make room for
    States and local communities, for religious and civic organizations, and
    for

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    individual Americans to address problems with the ingenuity and
    determination that make our country great.
    On this day and during this week, I once again call on all citizens to
    reflect on the original public meaning of our Constitution. And I call
    on Government officials to be mindful that laws must be clear and
    intelligible, and enacted through an open, constitutional process so
    that the American people can hold their Government accountable.
    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, 2018, as
    Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, and September 17, 2018, through
    September 23, 2018, 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 fourteenth day of
    September, in the year of our Lord two thousand eighteen, and of the
    Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-
    third.
    DONALD J. TRUMP