HR 9019

1	House Resolution
2	A resolution recognizing Liberty Day, March 16, 2011, as a
3	time to encourage current and previously elected officials
4	in Florida to participate in education programs that focus
5	on the contents of the Constitution of the United States.
6
7	WHEREAS, fifty-five delegates assembled in Philadelphia in
8	May 1787 for a Constitutional Convention and, of these
9	delegates, who ranged in age from 27 years of age to 81 years of
10	age and who came from varied backgrounds, at least half of them
11	were university educated, and
12	WHEREAS, the delegates set out to draft a document that
13	would represent the will and voice of a mostly rural population
14	of 3.9 million citizens, who were a collection of diverse
15	peoples from around the world, and, in doing so, the delegates
16	discussed and debated complex issues such as the form of
17	government, the rights of people, and slavery, and
18	WHEREAS, the delegates drafted a document that took the
19	best influences from the pages of history and political
20	philosophy, including concepts as diverse as common law from the
21	Magna Carta issued in 1215, Polybius' 2nd Century BC treatise on
22	the Constitution of the Roman Republic, and the theories of
23	multiple political philosophers such as Montesquieu and John
24	Locke, and
25	WHEREAS, the Constitution of the United States was adopted
26	on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention and,
27	after much debate, was ratified in all thirteen states, Delaware
28	being the first on December 7, 1787, and Rhode Island being the
29	last on May 29, 1790, and
30	WHEREAS, the Constitution of the United States has been
31	amended only twenty-seven times in its history, including the
32	first ten amendments ratified in 1791 that form our Bill of
33	Rights and, despite these changes, its basic principles have
34	remained the same as when written, making the Constitution of
35	the United States the oldest written constitution still in use
36	by any nation in the world, and
37	WHEREAS, the Constitution of the United States has been
38	translated into many languages as diverse as Thai, Russian, and
39	Chinese and has influenced the drafting of the constitutions of
40	many other nations, and
41	WHEREAS, James Madison, the fourth president of the United
42	States, is commonly referred to as the "Father" of the
43	Constitution of the United States, as he along with Gouverneur
44	Morris were the document's main draftsmen, and
45	WHEREAS, March 16, 2011, will mark the 260th anniversary of
46	James Madison's birth, and
47	WHEREAS, in 2000, the 106th United States Congress passed
48	House Concurrent Resolution 376, which designated James
49	Madison's birthday as Liberty Day to be celebrated each year,
50	congratulated all elected and previously elected representatives
51	of the people, and encouraged these representatives to
52	voluntarily give of their time to speak to Americans about the
53	nation's founding documents, and
54	WHEREAS, the Florida Legislature has continued its
55	commitment to and support of civics education by requiring the
56	teaching of the history, meaning, and significance of the
57	provisions of the Constitution of the United States, and the
58	amendments thereto, in the public schools of this state, NOW,
59	THEREFORE,
60
61	Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of
62	Florida:
63
64	That the House of Representatives recognizes March 16,
65	2011, Liberty Day, as a time to encourage all current and
66	previously elected officials of this state to participate in the
67	civics education of all Floridians about the contents of the
68	Constitution of the United States and to continue such education
69	throughout the year.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.