{"id":2489396,"date":"2025-09-22T08:50:59","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T12:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/go-see-the-full-constitution-at-the-national-archives-this-month\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T08:54:33","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T12:54:33","slug":"go-see-the-full-constitution-at-the-national-archives-this-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/go-see-the-full-constitution-at-the-national-archives-this-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Go See The Full Constitution At The National Archives This Month"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fgo-see-the-full-constitution-at-the-national-archives-this-month%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2489396&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Teh impending 250th anniversary of the united States offers Americans a unique possibility to reflect on the nation&#8217;s history and founding principles. To commemorate this milestone, the National Archives in Washington, D.C., is displaying the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/disney-rolling-out-childrens-cartoon-featuring-14-year-old-activist-with-interracial-gay-dads\/\" title=\"Disney Rolling Out Children\u2019s Cartoon Featuring 14-Year-Old Activist With Interracial Gay Dads\">entire original<\/a> U.S.Constitution for the first time, from September 16 to October 1. This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/washington-dc-picasso-exhibit-shows-off-the-artists-early-tender-years\/\" title=\"... DC Picasso Exhibit Shows Off The Artist\u2019s Early, Tender Years\">special exhibit<\/a> includes not only the commonly displayed four pages but also the rarely seen fifth page-a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-donors-economist-immigration-can-offset-risks-in-foreign-trade\/\" title=\"GOP Donors&#039; Economist: Immigration Can Offset Risks in Foreign Trade\">cover letter<\/a> with ratification instructions signed by george Washington.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, all 27 constitutional amendments are on display in their original form, showcasing the evolution of the nation&#8217;s legal framework. Notably, the 27th Amendment, which prohibits Congress from granting itself pay raises without an intervening election, was first proposed in 1789 but only ratified in 1992, thanks to the efforts of a college student.<\/p>\n<p>This complete exhibit is especially relevant amid today&#8217;s polarized political climate, reminding Americans of the balance between rights and responsibilities embedded in the Constitution&#8217;s opening phrase, &#8220;We the People.&#8221; Visitors are encouraged to engage with the document&#8217;s history and ideals to better appreciate and uphold the democratic principles that continue to shape the united States.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The country&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/04\/24\/how-to-make-sure-americas-250th-birthday-goes-out-with-a-bang-not-a-shrug\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >impending 250th birthday<\/a><\/a> provides myriad opportunities for Americans to gather, ponder, and reflect on the nation&rsquo;s history and the principles that have enabled American greatness. As part of that effort, the National Archives in Washington has, for the first time in that history, allowed ordinary Americans to read the entire original version of the nation&rsquo;s founding document.<\/p>\n<p>For two weeks &mdash; from Sept. 16 through Oct. 1 &mdash; the <a href=\"https:\/\/visit.archives.gov\/whats-on\/explore-exhibits\/constitution-day-full-us-constitution\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">entire Constitution<\/a> is on public display. Visitors to our nation&rsquo;s capital from across the country and around the world can view these priceless documents and, in doing so, hopefully rededicate themselves to the principles of the American experiment.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Fifth Page on Display<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>I visited the Archives on Constitution Day, Sept. 17, to observe the full Constitution 238 years after its signing in Philadelphia. In addition to the documents normally on display in its rotunda &mdash; the Declaration of Independence, the four pages of the Constitution, and the constitutional amendments comprising the Bill of Rights &mdash; the Archives for this special display has exhibited the Constitution&rsquo;s fifth page.<\/p>\n<p>Like most Americans, I had no idea the Constitution <em>had<\/em> a fifth page, even after viewing the four pages normally on display numerous times. The fifth page doesn&rsquo;t include any legally binding text; rather, it amounts to a glorified cover letter, providing instructions on how states should ratify the document. As an artifact, the document &mdash; with the signature of George Washington, the Constitutional Convention&rsquo;s president, clearly visible &mdash; shows how information traveled slowly in 18th-century America:<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2><strong>Nation&rsquo;s History via Amendments<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Also included in this special exhibit were all 27 amendments to the Constitution in their original form. The resolutions passed by Congress, which include each amendment&rsquo;s wording, are on display, from the 11th Amendment (relating to suits against states and passed by the Third Congress in 1794), handwritten on parchment, to more recent amendments typewritten on paper stationery.<\/p>\n<p>One slight exception to the rule is the most recent constitutional amendment to receive ratification, which also happened to be among the first proposed. The 27th Amendment, which prohibits Congress from increasing its own pay without an intervening election, was initially submitted by Congress to the states with the original Bill of Rights in 1789. But the amendment languished during the ratification process for two centuries and did not become part of the Constitution until 1992. The text of the amendment is actually included in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2025\/09\/localimages\/Bill_of_Rights_Pg1of1_AC.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bill of Rights document<\/a>, which is usually on display at the Archives &mdash; it precedes what we think of as the First Amendment, which was the third that Congress submitted to the states &mdash; and the Archivist&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Twenty-seventh_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#\/media\/File:27th_Amendment_Pg1of3_AC.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">certification document<\/a> is included in the special exhibit.<\/p>\n<p>While congressional pay seems like a relatively trivial matter in the scope of a government that spends trillions of dollars annually, the 27th Amendment speaks to the greatness of our republic. Gregory Watson, an undergraduate student at the University of Texas, discovered this unratified amendment as part of a class project in 1982. He argued that the amendment was still &ldquo;live&rdquo; (i.e., it could get ratified into law), proceeded to lobby states to have them ratify the amendment, and ultimately succeeded. Ironically, Watson only got a C on his paper, but his efforts helped change our nation&rsquo;s founding document.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Timely Discussion<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The display of the full Constitution seems particularly timely, given not just the impending semiquincentennial but our polarized political climate. From Democrats who claim President Trump is undermining democracy, to conservatives angered by media censorship during Covid, to complaints about &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-shouldnt-hire-kristi-noem-for-dhs-he-should-abolish-it\/\" title=\"Trump Shouldn\u2019t Hire Kristi Noem For DHS. He Should Abolish It\">cancel culture&#038;rdquo<\/a>; and free speech on both the left and the right, more Americans seem eager to invoke their rights &mdash; largely due to worries that someone else will take theirs away.<\/p>\n<p>But our governing document begins with the words &ldquo;We the People&rdquo; for a reason. As Americans, we grant each other rights in exchange for the responsibility of respecting others&rsquo; rights &mdash; even, perhaps especially, when we disagree with those individuals&rsquo; opinions or actions. Visiting the Archives&rsquo; special display, reading our foundational document, and understanding the Constitution, its history, and its principles will help us each remember our rights and our responsibilities &mdash; a critical part of forming the &ldquo;more perfect union&rdquo; our framers envisioned over two centuries ago.<\/p>\n<p><em>The full Constitution with amendments will be on display at the National Archives through Wednesday, Oct. 1.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr>\n<div>\n<p>      Chris Jacobs is founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group and author of the book &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1645720020\">The Case Against Single Payer<\/a>.&#8221; He is on Twitter: <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/chrisjacobsHC\">@chrisjacobsHC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nation&#8217;s 250th offers chance to reflect; Archives shows full Constitution<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":2489397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/The-Constitution-National-Archives.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[8062,4919,48055,14541],"class_list":["post-2489396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-constitution","tag-history","tag-national-archives","tag-usa"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/The-Constitution-National-Archives.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2489396"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2489400,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489396\/revisions\/2489400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2489397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2489396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2489396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2489396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}