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Dear Friends,
Today we celebrate Constitution Day and the 239th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution.
The National Constitution Center celebrates every year by opening our doors to thousands of students and teachers, welcoming 50 new American citizens who take the Oath of Allegiance, and convening experts to discuss the constitutional issues at the heart of American civic life.
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But this Constitution Day is also an opportunity to look ahead. In just eleven years, our nation will mark the 250th anniversary of the Constitution. At the Center, we believe the work of preparing for that milestone begins now.
Throughout 2026, Americans have come together to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
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We should build from what the nation has created for America’s 250th, rather than allow those partnerships, investments, and networks to disperse and then try to rebuild them several years from now. The opportunity before us is to carry this momentum forward, deepen it over time, and use it as the foundation for the work ahead.
That is the idea behind the Civic Decade: a period that begins with the Declaration’s 250th anniversary in 2026 and carries us through to 250th anniversaries of the Constitution in 2037 and the Bill of Rights in 2041.
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These should not be isolated anniversaries on a calendar. Together, they offer an opportunity to make a sustained national investment in civic knowledge, civic institutions, and the habits of self-government.
As America’s constitutional home, the Center intends to help lead that work.
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Over the years ahead, we are investing in a stronger National Constitution Center for the Civic Decade: reaching more students and teachers nationwide; creating new opportunities for children, families, and lifelong learners; using technology to expand access to constitutional learning; bringing more of our programming directly into communities across the country; and investing in our museum in Philadelphia as the destination for constitutional learning, civil dialogue, and civic discovery.
At the same time, we are building the partnerships and capacity to sustain this work over time, so that the momentum of America’s 250th becomes the foundation for the road to 2037 and 2041.
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And we intend to help lead the national effort toward those milestones. Earlier this week at the National Constitution Center, U.S. Congressman Brendan Boyle (D-PA), who represents the city of Philadelphia, announced plans to introduce new federal legislation establishing a national commission to begin planning for the Constitution’s 250th anniversary. The proposed commission will bring together federal, state, and local civic leaders to coordinate preparations for 2037.
Hosting this announcement at the Center reflects the role we intend to play throughout the Civic Decade: helping to build the partnerships, ideas, resources, and national momentum necessary to ensure that the Constitution’s 250th receives the ambition and attention it deserves.
This is work that cannot begin in 2036. It requires sustained investment over the decade ahead.
For nearly 25 years, supporters like you have made it possible for the National Constitution Center to serve students, teachers, families, lifelong learners, scholars, and communities in Philadelphia and across the country. As we enter this next chapter, your partnership can help us build on the extraordinary energy of America’s 250th and carry it forward toward the Constitution’s 250th.
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On this Constitution Day, I hope you will join us in that work.
The Constitution was signed in Philadelphia 239 years ago. The responsibility for sustaining the knowledge, institutions, and habits of self-government it depends upon belongs to every generation.
We are proud to help lead that work, in Philadelphia and across the nation, as we build together toward 2037.
Visit the Center, explore our resources, join us for an upcoming program, and follow along with Chief Content and Learning Officer Julie Silverbrook’s Substack, The Civic Decade. And if you believe that strengthening civic knowledge and the habits of self-government are necessary for our nation to flourish another 250 years, please support our work and help us build the Civic Decade together.
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Vince Stango
Interim President and CEO
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