sr1118_As_introduced_LC_38_0130

sr1118_As_introduced_LC_38_0130_2.html

06 LC 38 0130

Senate Resolution 1118

By: Senator Rogers of the 21st

A RESOLUTION

Urging all Georgia school boards to consider using the video A More Perfect Union; and for other purposes.

WHEREAS, in May of 1787, 55 of Americás brightest statesmen and ablest and wisest thinkers, all leaders in their respective states, men who understood the principles of freedom and representative government, assembled together, many believe, by divine Providence in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where they, against great odds, created, through open debate and compromise, a document of law that would literally change the world; and

WHEREAS, on September 17, 1787, 39 brave and courageous men completed, then signed this newly created document, the Constitution of the United States of America, at a time when 99 percent of the world́s population was living under tyranny; and

WHEREAS, this Constitution, upon ratification by all thirteen states, after often bitter and divisive debate, became the "Law of the Land," a document unlike anything else ever written, establishing a government where the people were sovereign, and it is the Constitution to which the Georgia General Assembly takes an oath to defend; and

WHEREAS, the Constitution of the United States has been, and continues to be a "Beacon of Hope for Freedom" for people throughout the world, drawing them to America in enormous numbers; and

WHEREAS, the Congress of the United States, in its wisdom, established via Public Law 108-447, Section 111, signed into law on December 8, 2004, by President George W. Bush, language that creates an annual "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day" to emphasize the importance of the Constitution of the United States to all Americans by providing educational material on the Constitution for all new employees, and further provides that on September 17 of each year each educational institution throughout the United States receiving federal funds shall hold an educational program on the Constitution for students served by such educational institution; and

WHEREAS, the Bicentennial Commission for the 200th Anniversary of the signing of the Constitution in 1987 commissioned the filming of a video entitled "A More Perfect Union," filmed in Williamsburg, Virginia, in the replica of Constitution Hall, with said video later becoming the source of a PBS TV documentary; and

WHEREAS, said video is now available for use by all Georgia school systems to comply with the provisions of Public Law 108-447, Section 111 to help educate all Georgia students on how the Constitution of the United States was created, under conditions few Georgians today can possibly comprehend.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BE THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA that September 17, 2006, is declared Constitution Day and Citizenship Day in Georgia.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Georgia General Assembly hereby urges all Georgia school boards to consider using said video, A More Perfect Union, as a means to partially comply with the provisions of Public Law 108-447, heretofore mentioned, and to more effectively educate all Georgia students about the powerful principles of freedom embodied in the Constitution of the United States, and about the wise men, Americás Founding Fathers, who through four long hot months debated, argued, and finally compromised in order to bring forth a Constitution of law making all mankind free and equal, subject to "the Laws of Nature and of Naturés God."

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate is authorized and directed to transmit an appropriate copy of this resolution to all the boards of education in the state of Georgia.