Yale to Honor Ben Franklin at Constitution Day Celebration

Yale University will observe Constitution Day on September 18 with activities highlighting Benjamin Franklin’s contribution to the Constitutional Convention, on the occasion of his 300th birthday.

Yale University will observe Constitution Day on September 18 with activities highlighting Benjamin Franklin’s contribution to the Constitutional Convention, on the occasion of his 300th birthday.  

The one-hour program on Beinecke Plaza, beginning at 12:15 p.m., is free and open to the public. In case of rain the program will take place in the Sterling Memorial Library’s Lecture Hall.

“Ben Franklin and Constitution Day” will feature an actor dressed as Franklin, who will distribute copies of the Constitution on Hewitt Quadrangle. Although none of Franklin’s proposals were adopted into the Constitution, his distinction gave him a voice and influence at the Convention unlike anyone else. His capacity to create harmony out of dissension brought about the unanimous resolve by Congress to submit the Constitution to the States. He “soothed disputes, encouraged compromise and helped resolve deadlock,” according to Robert K. Wright, Jr. and Morris J. MacGregor, Jr., authors of “Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution.”

The first half of the program at Yale will include readings about Franklin and the Constitution, drawn from Franklin’s letters and from biographies about him. The readings will be selected by the staff of the Yale Franklin Papers, which houses the most extensive collection of materials by and about Franklin and his times to be found in a single collection anywhere in the world.

The second half of the program will include readings from the Constitution, chosen by Akhil Amar, the Southmayd Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale, and read by students, staff and faculty.

During the readings, a drawing will be held to give away copies Edmund Morgan’s award-winning biography, “Benjamin Franklin” (Yale University Press 2002). Morgan is the Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale.

Constitution Day was observed informally until President George W. Bush signed a bill on December 8, 2004, designating September 17 as Constitution Day nationwide. The law mandates that schools receiving federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education “implement an educational program pertaining to the United States Constitution ….” Since September 17 falls on a Sunday this year, Constitution Day will be celebrated before or after the weekend by most participating institutions.

When the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention gathered in Independence Hall in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787, to sign the document that would determine the structure and function of the federal government, four of them were Yale graduates. The original Constitution is on permanent display in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

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Media Contact

Gila Reinstein: gila.reinstein@yale.edu, 203-432-1325