[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