When Was the Last Time You Read the Constitution?

Did you know that September 17 was a federal holiday? Constitution Day, the anniversary of the date the United States Constitution was signed, was established in 2004 with Public Law 108-447. The law mandates that all public schools and federal agencies provide education on the history of the Constitution to commemorate and celebrate its formation on that day. That mandate, however, is largely ignored—few people are even aware of it today. Joni Bryan founded the non-profit organization the 917 Society in 2016 to remedy this issue, and it’s an enormous task. We spoke about how she got started, her goals for the organization, as it grows steadily.

It was 2011 when Bryan—who was at the time working in a retirement community—was first posed with the question that ultimately changed her life. “When was the last time you read your Constitution?” asked a retired lawyer she enjoyed speaking to. As he spoke, he held his own pocket Constitution up to her face. Bryan remembers feeling utterly stunned in that moment, realizing she never had actually read it. “You have to understand, he was 6’5” and I was 5’,” she laughs, recalling the profound effect it had on her. She was a social worker, and her husband was a public school teacher. Why hadn’t she read the United States Constitution? The notion kept her up at night, and she soon began reading and studying. 

As Bryan—a long time Democrat—began reading the document that formed the very foundation of our government, she found her personal views becoming far more nuanced and complex. “Now, I’m an independent in a lot of ways,” she explains, adding that it no longer makes sense to her to subscribe to a list of pre-picked beliefs. “None of us are gonna be aligned on everything.” 

As she continued to study, she was struck by the dual-nature of American citizenship: that “we have all our wonderful rights and liberties, but we also have our responsibilities.” Our government is meant to serve us, not the other way around, and we have a duty to “make sure they know what we want them to do.” That means calling and writing local representatives, and paying close attention to what they are getting up to. When people don’t take up that responsibility, things get out of hand quickly. Speaking on the state of the federal government today, Bryan says, “It’s gotten so big and massive it’s like they are lording over us, and that’s not the way it’s supposed to be.”

All of this drove Bryan to found the 917 Society, an organization of volunteers dedicated to teaching students to understand and appreciate the United States Constitution. The group works with 8th graders, providing them with their own personal copies every September 17. Bryan finds that especially “with AI and all this tech, it’s really important to have those words in print.” She also emphasizes the importance of understanding that the document isn’t merely “the” Constitution, but “your” Constitution—just as that retired lawyer taught her years ago. “We want [the students] to create that ownership to that document,” she explains. She believes that each person owning their own copy makes it real and tangible to them in exactly the way it should be.

The first year the 917 Society got to work, it was able to reach 25,000 students in middle Tennessee. Each year, that number has increased and spread out: this year, over 1 million students across the country were given their own pocket Constitution. Bryan is optimistic about the future, citing that some teachers have caught students reading the document during class and had to ask them to put them away. “It’s a good problem to have,” she muses.

However, the task isn’t without its challenges. For one, funding is important, and the organization doesn’t accept any money from the federal government. “I think of that as unconstitutional,” says Bryan. Second, Constitution Day today is seen, for whatever reason, as controversial—Bryan often has trouble getting the word out on social media due to censorship. “It’s labeled as something it shouldn’t be labeled,” she laments. “It’s for every American. It breaks my heart when I have to deal with that political aspect—people living under our Constitution, but they want to censor our Constitution.” She mentions a disappointing story from years ago, when Democrat Tulsi Gabbard spoke at the Congressional event celebrating Constitution Day. When Gabbard got back to her office, fellow Democrats told her that she shouldn’t have attended.

Still, the 917 Society presses on. Each spring, they send email blasts about the program and Public Law 108-447 to schools around the country. Schools are also able to order their pocket Constitutions directly from volunteers. “We don’t want them sitting in boxes,” says Bryan. She hopes these efforts will create a more informed votership, one that knows all of its rights as citizens and can eventually “make the government as it should be.” She has already  been approached by college students who still carry the Constitution they were given years ago. They tell her that they were inspired just as she had been. One is even studying to be a judge.

This coming year, the organization hopes “to reach more kids than ever”: 2 million. They plan to accomplish this through Constitution Day as well as a few other other programs. The 917 Society offers free lesson plans for teachers on their website, classroom contests (where students submit documentation of their Constitution Day celebration and ten classrooms are awarded a $200 gift card), a summer camp, and even a scholarship. With enough funding, they may even get their own facility and official staff. Bryan encourages everyone to get online and learn, explaining that a donation of only $25 can sponsor a classroom’s lesson for September 17th. She admits that times are tough and the economy is down, but she remains as inspired as ever to do her part: she “love[s] what [she does] and feel[s] blessed to do it.”