Although America’s Independence Day celebration is the focus of patriotic fervor, Constitution Day deserves more attention than it normally receives. Constitution Day is observed annually on 17 September to mark the signing of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia on 17 September 1787. It also honors citizenship and all who have become U.S. citizens. Publication of the Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776 was certainly a momentous occasion; nevertheless, America as we know it became a reality when the Constitution became the foundational document for American Government. Freelance writer Bennett Kleinman observes, “The Constitution isn’t just a relic — it’s a living document that’s always evolving.”[1]

Gouverneur Morris — Author of the Constitution

Thomas Jefferson receives well-deserved plaudits for penning the Declaration of Independence. Yet Gouverneur Morris, author of the Constitution, has been lost to history for most Americans. Historian Richard Brookhiser observes, “If the author of the Constitution had been born in Boston or Virginia, his grave would be on walking tours and heritage trails. There would be a statue by Houdon, and docents in ruffled shirts and mobcaps.”[2] Morris, however, lived in New York. Brookhiser laments, “New York, which produced great Founding Fathers — Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, along with Morris — counts its daily returns and moves on.”

We shouldn’t “move on” from Gouverneur Morris when discussing the Constitution. Brookhiser reports that Morris was fun-loving. He enjoyed hearing and telling good jokes. Brookhiser writes, “Morris was a funny man. The Founders mostly were not, and we would not wish them to have been otherwise, for they had serious work to do. Franklin could be funny when he chose to be, and John Adams was funny when he couldn’t help it, usually when he was enumerating the vices of some enemy. But Washington leading his troops, Jefferson and Madison contemplating their theories, and Hamilton balancing the books were all earnest men, not to be distracted from their duties. A good joke always distracted Morris.”

According to Brookhiser, “Morris was handsome, intelligent, rich, and successful.” We should remember him, however, because he was a founding father of his nation. Although he was jovial, Morris suffered from severe physical ailments. As a boy, his right arm was burned so badly from spilling a kettle of boiling water on it that, in later years, it was described as “fleshless.” Then, at age 28, he slipped while entering a carriage and his left foot was caught in the spokes. It was so mangled a doctor amputated his leg below the knee. Brookhiser writes, “Morris never complained, except when he occasionally slipped on muddy cobblestones. His injuries never slowed him down — he danced, rode, and sailed all his life, and pursued other sports — and his arm at least could be concealed.”

When the Constitution came to be written, unlike Jefferson, Morris had no documents from which to draw style or ideas. James Madison, who became fourth President of the United States, remarked, ““The finish given to the style and arrangement of the Constitution fairly belongs to the pen of Mr. Morris. A better choice could not have been made.” Brookhiser notes that the preamble to the Constitution “was altogether Morris’s own.” And, those words still ring in the ears of all Americans: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

A Living Document

Like Kleinman, Harvard professor Danielle Allen celebrates the Constitution as a living document that has been modified and improved over time. She notes, “The Framers don’t own the version we live by today. We do. The document is our responsibility now.”[3] Although the Constitution was signed by convention delegates on 17 September 1787, it wasn’t finally ratified as the law of the land until 21 June 1788. It didn’t take long for the document to be amended. Some of the most important principles contained in the Constitution weren’t added until 1791. In that year, the first ten amendments — known as the Bill of Rights — were added. It was James Madison who introduced the Bill of Rights to Congress. He and Morris deserve as much credit and attention as Jefferson for putting on paper words which men and women have died defending over the past two-and-a-half centuries.

Twelve amendments were actually sent to the states for ratification, but only ten of those amendments received the necessary votes to be ratified — which finally happened on 15 December 1791. The two amendments that were not ratified dealt with the number of Representatives who should be elected to Congress and compensation for Senators and Representatives. Freelance writer Greg Daugherty reports, “Seventeen amendments have been ratified in the 234 years since, for a total of 27. But these measures represent just a tiny fraction of the amendments that have been proposed in Congress over the years — nearly 12,000 to date.”

Concluding Thoughts

If your celebration of America’s 250th birthday ended on 4 July, break out the party favors and celebrate Constitution Day. In the scheme of things, the Constitution is a much more vital document for Americans than the Declaration of Independence. It is a living document. That seems to be a fact that so-called “originalist” jurists have forgotten. As Allen noted, we the people own that document and it is our responsibility to defend it. Eleven years from now, I hope the country fetes the Constitution with same excitement it has shown for Declaration of Independence.

Footnotes

[1] Bennett Kleinman, “10 Facts About the Last 10 Constitutional Amendments,” History Facts, 3 April 2024.

[2] Richard Brookhiser, “The Forgotten Founding Father,” City Journal, Spring 2002.

[3] Danielle Allen, “The Flawed Genius of the Constitution,” The Atlantic, 5 October 2020.

[4] Greg Daugherty, “Twelve Failed Constitutional Amendments That Could Have Reshaped American History,” Smithsonian Magazine, 6 October 2025.