On September 17, 1787, thirty-nine delegates of the Constitutional Convention, our founding fathers, signed and enacted the United States Constitution. This document establishes the “checks and balances” system among the three branches of government: Judicial, Executive, and Legislative. We have celebrated this milestone with Constitution Day on September 17th each year, marking 237 years in 2024.

The celebration began in 1940 as “I Am an American Day,” following a resolution by Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was observed on the third Sunday in May. In 1952, it was renamed “Constitution Day” and moved to September 17th to honor the original signing date. In 2004, Congress renamed it again to “Constitution and Citizenship Day” to also recognize new U.S. citizens.

With a presidential election coming up, it’s a great time to learn about your rights as an American citizen, including the right to vote.

Constitution and Citizenship Day Resources

For brief general history, fun facts, and easy activity ideas, check out the website National Today and their page on Constitution Day. It is also a fun website to visit to search for holidays and celebrations by month or by topic.

If you want to dig a little deeper for more substantial information, then take a look at the United States Census Bureau’s page on Constitution Day. It may seem like an odd place to locate information about Constitution Day, but the writers of the constitution used population as the basis for sharing political power and the US Census Bureau provides a wide variety of activities, teaching guides, access to historical documents, and interactive maps centered around apportionment and voting trends.   

The National Center for State Courts also provides a lot of useful resources, especially lesson plans discussing free speech topics for K-12 students. It links to the Bill of Rights Institute and the Constitution Center, both of which offer interactive student games, lesson plans, and tools to help students understand the freedoms that the constitution offers.    

Citizenship Day Resources

For those wanting to explore citizenship or doing research on the topic, consult the US Citizenship and Immigration Services Resource Center. You can also find useful information on How to Apply for US Citizenship, which includes eligibility requirements, the naturalization process, and resources to help you study for the naturalization test.  If you are already a citizen of the United States, try taking the test yourself by doing the Civics Practice Test in order to see how well you know your US history and government.

Exercise your right and VOTE!

Election Day is Tuesday, November 5, 2024. The deadline to register to vote online, to vote in person, and to vote by mail is October 7th. You can also find the deadline for Absentee Ballot for your state at Vote.org.  Plan accordingly, and if possible, take advantage of early voting. Don’t forget to check for specific dates, hours, and locations, which may vary depending on where you live.

For more information on how and where to vote, or to register to vote online, see Rock the Vote. It takes less than 2 minutes to register.

If you are a k-12 educator and you are wanting to get your students involved, check out Teaching Tolerance’s Future Voters Project. This is a project devoted to educating students on the importance of voting and to work on getting all eligible students registered to vote by the time they graduate high school.

Political Science Databases

If you’re interested in how elections run in general, the history of political parties, or you want to become more informed on the topics you care about before you vote, the IU East Campus Library has several databases that can help you in your research.

HeinOnline Academic includes multidisciplinary content in more than 100 subject areas, including history, political science, criminal justice, religious studies, international relations, women’s studies, pre-law, and many more. HeinOnline provides access to 300+ years of information on political development and the complete history of the creation of government and legal systems around the world.

The Digital National Security Archive contains curated and indexed declassified government documents covering U.S. policy toward critical world events – including their military, intelligence, diplomatic and human rights dimensions – from 1945 to the present.

We also recommend ProQuest’s Political Science Database. This database gives users access to hundreds of leading political science, public policy, and international relations journals. It also includes recent full-text doctoral dissertations on political science topics, together with working papers, conference proceedings, country reports, policy papers and other sources.

Another helpful database is Opposing Viewpoints in Context, which consists of contextual information and opinions on hundreds of contemporary social issues, including the 2024 presidential election, and features continuously updated viewpoint articles and topic overviews.

If you need any assistance in researching any of the topics mentioned here, just Ask US! iueref@iu.edu.