National Constitution Center

National Constitution Center

Exterior of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
Location within Pennsylvania
Established 17 September 2000
Location Independence Mall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates 39°57′12″N 75°08′56″W / 39.953406°N 75.148952°W
Type History Museum
Visitors 817,000 (2011)
Director Jeffrey Rosen
Public transit access SEPTA Market–Frankford Line, SEPTA Bus Routes 38, 44, 48, 121
Website http://constitutioncenter.org/

The National Constitution Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution devoted to the United States Constitution and what it represents. Located on Independence Mall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the center serves as an interactive museum; a hub of civic education; and a national town hall for constitutional dialogue, regularly hosting government leaders, journalists, scholars, and celebrities for public discussions including presidential debates. The center houses the Annenberg Center for Education and Outreach, which offers civic learning resources both onsite and online. It does not contain the original Constitution, which is stored at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C.

The groundbreaking ceremony, attended by President Bill Clinton,[1] was held on September 17, 2000–213 years to the day after the original Constitution was signed. The National Constitution Center officially opened its doors on July 4, 2003,[2] joining other historic sites and iconic attractions in what has been called "America's most historic square mile"[3] because of the proximity to historic landmarks such as Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, officiating at the opening ceremonies, said, “The Constitution Center and Independence Hall, together with the Liberty Bell, form a place that every American should visit. It will contribute each and every day to the reinforcement of the basic principles that bind us together as a nation and a people.”[4]

About

National Constitution Center main entrance

The National Constitution Center Board of Trustees appointed law professor, distinguished legal commentator and former visiting scholar Jeffrey Rosen to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Center and Rosen started at the Center in June, 2013.[5]

The center was created by the Constitution Heritage Act in 1988.[6] Approved on September 16, 1988, and signed by President Ronald Reagan,[7] the act defined the National Constitution Center as “within or in close proximity to the Independence National Historical Park. The Center shall disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a non-partisan basis in order to increase the awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.”

The center is located at 525 Arch Street—an address chosen because May 25 (5/25) was the date that the Constitutional Convention began in Philadelphia in 1787 as shown in Timeline of drafting and ratification of the United States Constitution.

The architectural firm of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners designed the center,[8] and Leslie E. Robertson Associates are the structural engineers for this project. Critic Witold Rybczynski of The “New York Times” wrote, “Quiet but assertive, respectful of its surroundings, considerate of its public, this building is destined to take its place among the nation's leading public monuments.”[9]

Ralph Appelbaum Associates designed the center’s visitor experiences and exhibition hall. The total square footage of public space is 160,000 square feet, including galleries. The center has 75,785 square feet of exhibit space. The center is made of American products, including 85,000 square feet of Indiana limestone, 2.6 million pounds of steel, and a half-million cubic feet of concrete.

Main exhibition

The museum’s main exhibition features three primary attractions, which are intended to engage adults and children:

Visitors start their museum experience at Freedom Rising, a 17-minute, 360-degree theatrical production narrated by a live actor in the Kimmel Theater. The production traces the American quest for freedom. After viewing the performance, former First Lady Laura Bush said, “I found Freedom Rising so moving I wanted to weep at the end of it. I want to encourage people to come here.”

The Story of We the People, in the Richard and Helen DeVos Exhibition Hall, is an interactive exhibition highlighting the history of the Constitution through more than 100 hands-on and multimedia exhibits. Visitors also can take part in free educational activities led by the center’s staff.

Exhibition highlights include:

Signers’ Hall is a stylized evocation of the Assembly Room in the Pennsylvania State House (today called Independence Hall) where the signers of the Constitution met on September 17, 1787. The room is occupied by life-sized bronze statues of 42 men: the 39 delegates who signed as well as the three who dissented. Extensive research was conducted to make the statues as lifelike and accurate as possible. Visitors have the opportunity to sign their names alongside the 39 signers.

Feature exhibitions

The Museum's feature exhibition is Constituting Liberty: From the Declaration to the Bill of Rights. The National Constitution Center is displaying one of the 12 surviving copies of the Bill of Rights. The Museum of We the People is the first institution in Pennsylvania to exhibit this historic document to the general public. It has been preserved as part of The New York Public Library's renowned research collection for over 100 years.

Many of the rights and liberties Americans cherish—such as speech, religion, and the right to a fair trial—were not enumerated in the original Constitution drafted at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787 but were included in the first 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791.

The Bill of Rights is displayed alongside a first edition Stone Engraving of the Declaration of Independence and a rare copy of the first public printing of the U.S. Constitution in the brand new George H.W. Bush Gallery. The exhibition runs from December 2014 – December, 2017

In displaying this historic document, the museum will provide visitors a better understanding of the U.S. Constitution, the freedoms it protects, and its relevance.[10]

A second feature exhibition will open in February, 2015. Creating Camelot: The Kennedy Photography of Jacques Lowe will showcase more than 70 intimate photographs and iconic images of President John F. Kennedy, his wife, Jacqueline, and their children, Caroline and John Jr. — photos that helped create the legend of the Kennedy presidency known as “Camelot.”

Lowe was Kennedy’s personal photographer from 1958 through his early years in the White House. His extraordinary access to Kennedy’s private and public life allowed him to capture events that others could not. His photographs document Kennedy’s rise to power, from his 1958 re-election campaign to the White House, along with intimate scenes of the Kennedys at home. The exhibit also explores how Lowe’s images were used in the media. A large touch-screen monitor will allow visitors to view more than two dozen of Lowe’s original contact sheets, including the editing marks that indicate the images he selected for publication in various newspapers and magazines. The exhibit also includes an original film about Jacques Lowe and the Kennedy family. The exhibition will run from Feb. 13, 2015 to Sept. 7, 2015.

Civic education

Through its Annenberg Center for Education and Outreach, the center offers onsite and online civic education programs as well as a study center that develops and distributes teaching tools, lesson plans and resources. Thanks to a grant from the Annenberg Foundation,[11] the center has become a national resource on Constitution Day.

In September 2006, the center helped launch Constitution High School, a college preparatory, city-wide admission school and “the only Philadelphia School District high school whose theme is Law, Democracy, and History.”[12] According to the school’s website, Constitution High School is “a unique collaboration among the School District of Philadelphia, the National Constitution Center and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History” and aims to “develop the next generation of engaged citizens and civic leaders in government, public policy, and law.”

Public engagement

As a national town hall, the center has welcomed former presidents, Supreme Court justices, journalists, pundits, scholars and entertainers at political discussions and book events. The guests who have appeared at the center include Presidents Barack Obama, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Vice President Dick Cheney; First Lady Laura Bush; Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor; Newt Gingrich; Karl Rove; Donna Brazile; and journalists including Tavis Smiley, Gwen Ifill, Tina Brown, Andrea Mitchell, and Tom Brokaw. The center has hosted several debates, including a 2008 Democratic presidential primary debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama,[13] a town hall meeting with Senator John McCain,[14] and a 2006 Pennsylvania Senatorial debate between Republican incumbent Rick Santorum and Democratic challenger Bob Casey.[15]

Liberty Medal

In 2006, the center became the home of the Liberty Medal, an annual award established in 1988 to recognize those “men and women of courage and conviction who strive to secure the blessings of liberty to people around the globe.”[16] Liberty Medal recipients have included Hillary Rodham Clinton, Muhammad Ali, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Bono, Mikhail Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela, Steven Spielberg, Tony Blair and Dr. Robert M. Gates.[17]

NCC and presidents

Former President George H.W. Bush served as chairman of the center’s Board of Trustees beginning in 2007; it is the only organization of which Bush served as chairman. His successor, Bill Clinton, served from 2009 until 2012. Jeb Bush is the current chairman.

On March 18, 2008, Senator Barack Obama delivered a speech on race issues entitled "A More Perfect Union" at the Center, while campaigning for the presidency.

The National Constitution Center hosted then-Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the Pennsylvania presidential primary debate on April 16, 2008.[18]

Artifacts

Two days after the Constitution was signed, the document’s full text was printed in a local newspaper, The Pennsylvania Packet & Daily Advertiser. A rare copy of this first public printing of the Constitution is housed at the National Constitution Center, in an alcove adjacent to Signers’ Hall. The center received its copy of the first public printing of the Constitution on September 11, 2001.

The U.S. flag hanging in the center’s Grand Hall Overlook has traveled around the U.S. and flown over every state and territory capitol. Before the center’s official opening, it was hung at the center by Muhammad Ali in a Flag Day ceremony on June 14, 2003.

It took 18 months and 50 artists to produce the 42 bronze statues of the Founding Fathers in Signers’ Hall.

In the media

“At the other end of the mall sparkles a modernist jewel of America's civic life, the National Constitution Center” – George Will, The Washington Post[19]

“Since opening in 2003, [the National Constitution Center] has put forward a vision of constitutional history both left and right have embraced.”— The New York Times[20]

“The National Constitution Center has established itself as one of the city’s cultural celebs, attracting a million visitors a year, putting pizzazz into civic and educational offerings, hosting blockbuster exhibitions, and attracting the nation’s intellectual cognoscenti and media elite like bears to honey.”— The Philadelphia Inquirer [21]

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Constitutional Walking Tour of Philadelphia". Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  2. ↑ "TRAVEL ADVISORY; Constitution Center To Open in Philadelphia - New York Times". The New York Times. 22 June 2003. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  3. ↑ "Independence Visitor Center". Independence Visitor Center. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  4. ↑ "National Constitution Center Dedication Ceremony - C-SPAN Video Library". Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  5. ↑ "President and CEO - National Constitution Center". Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  6. ↑ "The Constitutional Walking Tour of Philadelphia". Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  7. ↑ "Untitled Document". Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  8. ↑ "Pei Cobb Freed & Partners". Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  9. ↑ Rybczynski, Witold (8 July 2003). "ARCHITECTURE REVIEW; More Perfect Union Of Function And Form - New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  10. ↑ "The Bill of Rights - National Constitution Center". Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  11. ↑ "Annenberg Foundation Awards $6.4 Million to National Constitution Center PND Foundation Center". Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  12. ↑ "Constitution High School - The School District of Philadelphia". Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  13. ↑ "Transcript: Obama and Clinton Debate - ABC News". Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  14. ↑ "McCain’s town-hall meeting at Constitution Center 6abc.com". Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  15. ↑ "Santorum on the attack in final debate with Casey - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Printer friendly". Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  16. ↑ "THE LIBERTY MEDAL". Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  17. ↑ "Recipients - Liberty Medal - National Constitution Center". Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  18. ↑ "Transcript: Obama and Clinton Debate - ABC News". Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  19. ↑ "George F. Will - Sense From the Hall of Framers". The Washington Post. 14 August 2005. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  20. ↑ "Constitutional Lessons, Old and New, on Display". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  21. ↑ "Philadelphia does history right So far, so good for the National Constitution Center. - Philly.com". Retrieved 28 March 2013.

External links

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