Darien Celebration for Constitution Week

The Constitution Week observance ceremony in Darien will be Sept 11th from 8:30 to 9:30am at the 9/11 Memorial Stone behind .  Following the ceremony, the annual photo of First Selectwoman Jayme Stevenson and members of the Darien’s Good Wife’s River Chamber of Daughters of the American Revolution will take place at Darien Town Hall.  The tradition of commemorating the Constitution was enacted in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower from a congressional resolution petitioned by the Daughters of the American Revolution. This American observance runs from September 17 to 23 to promote education about the constitution which was adopted by the American Congress of the Confederation on September 17, 1787.

This seems especially fitting since Connecticut’s was designated as the “Constitution State” by the General Assembly in 1959.  This nickname was chosen because in 1639, Connecticut was the first state to adopt a representative form of government called the Fundamental Orders based on democratic principles.  According to 50state.com, “Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, stated that "never had a company of men deliberately met to frame a social compact for immediate use, constituting a new and independent commonwealth, with definite officers, executive and legislative, and prescribed rules and modes of government, until the first planters of Connecticut came together for their great work on January 14th, 1638-9.”