By PHOEBE DONALD ROBINSON / Community Columnist

Constitution Day is celebrated on Sept. 17 beginning with the ringing of the bells at 3 p.m. across the nation.

America’s first president George Washington was the first signer of the Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787.

James Madison is known as the “Father of the Constitution.”

Benjamin Franklin was the oldest signer at age 81 and youngest signer was Jonathan Dayton at age 26.

“The Constitution is the guide which I will never abandon,” said Washington.

To celebrate the signing of this cornerstone document of our nation’s freedoms, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) petitioned Congress in 1955 to set aside Sept. 17-23 annually as Constitution Week.

President Dwight Eisenhower agreed with the DAR petition and signed Public Law 915 after Congressional approval on Aug. 2, 1956.

Furthermore, on Dec. 8, 2004, Congress voted that schools receiving federal money must instruct students on the Constitution every Sept. 17.

On Sept. 17 at 4 p.m., the DAR David Lindsay Chapter of Shelby County and the Friends of the Columbiana Public Library will have a program at the Columbiana library on the Constitution for children ages 5-11.

DAR Daughters and library friends’ members Peggy Wood, Beverly Hall and Phoebe Robinson will give a program with craft, story and refreshments.

Robinson will dress in 18th-century period costume and tell the story in first person of Elizabeth Donald, her third great-grandmother and wife of Revolutionary War militia soldier James Donald. The free program will include a goodie bag for each child with a copy of the Constitution.

The Constitution is the supreme law of the United State of America and the cornerstone of our freedom.

It is the working basis of our republic government.

It is the oldest constitution in the world today as well as the shortest, 4,400 words.

It protects the individual liberties of all citizens through written law and divides our government into three branches, executive, legislative and judicial.

“Our safety, our liberty, depends upon preserving the Constitution of the United States as our fathers made it inviolate. The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution,” said Abraham Lincoln.