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The history of the United States, especially since 1865, has witnessed, or perhaps it might better be said, has served as the manifestation of the framework within which the history of the Republic can be framed, of a long arc of self-actualization that, once a collective endeavor, has since the 1930s in its current forms diffused its narcotic to all actors in the nation. That diffusion has, in its own way, aligned the trajectories and voyages of personal and political self-actualization in and of the Republic. This sort of psycho-narcotic may well be useful in the presence of pain; its danger, of course is dependence, and from dependence, a substitution of the object of self actualization from the self to the satisfaction of need for the narcotic.
The self-actualization of the Republic in, as, and through its Constitution, has a history almost as long as that of the Republic that emerged from out of the post-Revolutionary Confederation. But that is both its genius and its challenge. It is both text that frames the possibilities and provides the language of national self-actualization; it is as well the articulation of that self-actualization in and of itself. Both are now scattered among public rituals and private speech-acts. Some of these public rituals have been memorialized in law made possible as its own manifestation--that is in rituals of national self actualization several closely tied to a prior era of self-actualization in the shadow of its challenge from Soviet Communist Internationalism. That has given the nation Congressional joint resolution of February 29, 1952 (36 U.S.C. 106), designated September 17 as “Constitution Day and Citizenship Day,” and by joint resolution of August 2, 1956 (36 U.S.C. 108), requested that the President proclaim the week beginning September 17 and ending September 23 of each year as “Constitution Week.”
And so here we are--a ritual established by Congress through proclamation, one inviting the President to provide inspirational framing of the Constitution and solidarity built around that constitutional actualization, to the nation. And like his predecessors, President Trump has complied in his Proclamation: Constitution Week, 2025, the text of which follows below. It is worth a careful read and some deeper thinking, where ever one's own pathway to political self actualization takes one.
There are a number of strands that are worth highlighting in President Trump's text.
1. Self-Referencing Constitutional Sanctification. President Trump follows an ancient tradition of the Republic in the embrace of constitutional sanctification. "This Constitution Week, we commit to renewing the sacred bonds of American citizenship and refortifying our storied national customs, culture, heritage, and values." (Constitution Week, 2025). What makes this more interesting is the object of sanctification: custom, tradition, culture, heritage and values. And thus the Constitution may be a sacred vessel, but what is holds is the essence of the sacred itself--and that sacred, the core of national self-actualization, is itself bounded in itself. The constitutional sacred, then, is not the text of the vessel but what it holds--the customs and traditions of the people which ought to be manifested in the operation of the vessel itself. Thus, when President Trump writes, "we vow to honor, revere, and safeguard our Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic" (Constitution Week, 2025) he is referring to the constitutional sacred--customs and traditions. The Constitution and the customs and traditions for it it serves as a sacred manifestation, then, produces a closed and self-referencing system of the sacred
2. Divine Activation of the Sacred Constitutional Dialectic. The Constitution and the customs and traditions for it it serves as a sacred manifestation, then, produces dialectical space that defines the boundaries and character of the politics of the Republic. Its norms and forms are shaped and draw from custom and tradition, etc. Its language and stability are bounded by the text of the Constitution and the operational apparatus it creates. "The Constitution established our system of Government and immortalized the cornerstone American principles of federalism, the rule of law, and the separation of powers. Guided by these eternal truths, our Nation has been unfailingly sustained by its devotion to justice, sovereignty, and the common good of its citizens." (Constitution Week, 2025). But the self-referencing system was not self activated, even if, once started, it is self sustaining. "When our Founding Fathers gathered at Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1787, they codified the timeless truth enshrined in our Declaration of Independence — that the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are granted not by government, but by God." (Constitution Week, 2025). Of course, this is a Republic with many, sometimes quite distinct, visions of the Divine and therefore of the way they approach and may hear the Divine word. And it is always useful to remember that for some the divine may be manifested in the aggregation of the human within its divine collectivity. The Republic, then, may hear the Divine word in different tones; the expectation is that at its base those variations blend into something like a harmonious enough whole within which the Constitutional dialectic operates.
3. The Dialectics of Obligation. The sacred dialectic is not passive. Passivity, it is suggested, transforms a free people as the champions of their traditions (their cultural conceptual cages and the expectations that derive therefrom and thus derived are embedded in the constitutional vessel). Instead, the dialectics functions only where all members exercise a positive duty to their own self-actualization within the boundaries of the sacred dialectic. "Our ancestors believed that the privileges of citizenship also come with obligations — including love of country, devotion to our fellow countrymen, and a steadfast commitment to preserving our inheritance of freedom." (Constitution Week, 2025). President Trump offers one vision of the core of that positive obligation. "From the very beginning of our national story, responsible citizenship has meant obeying our laws, defending our flag, honoring our heritage, and guarding our homeland and our constitutional way of life against those who seek to destroy it — from within or without." (Constitution Week, 2025). Other may self actualize through their own manifestations and defense of tradition and custom. And the spaces between them, bounded by the limits of the sacred constitutional dialectic, is meant to produce the platform within which stability enhancing political action may be undertaken.
Again, Constitution Day continues to serve as an important space where our elected officials may undertake their own duty to help the Nation continue to consider the critical aspects of its constitutional dialectic--the shaping of our collective and dynamic national customs, culture, heritage, and values within the architecture of our public institutions--and beyond them within the vast spaces where the people who make up this Republic may undertake to actualize these now sacred objects within the smaller spaces--that our constitutional vessel celebrates--in which their own pathways to self actualization may be realized. And so once again it is a useful thing to heed the request now more than half a century in the making, "to educate America’s pupils on the rights and responsibilities of citizenship under our constitutional order. In doing so, we will ensure “a more perfect Union,” will continue to prosper for generations to come" (Constitution Week, 2025) each in their own way and in solidarity with each other.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
This week our Nation proudly celebrates the 238th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution — the legendary charter that established our experiment in self-government as the greatest Republic ever conceived. This Constitution Week, we commit to renewing the sacred bonds of American citizenship and refortifying our storied national customs, culture, heritage, and values. Above all, as we begin to celebrate 250 glorious years of American Independence, we pledge allegiance to our beautiful American flag and everything for which it stands — and we vow to honor, revere, and safeguard our Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
When our Founding Fathers gathered at Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1787, they codified the timeless truth enshrined in our Declaration of Independence — that the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are granted not by government, but by God — into an enumerated system. The Constitution established our system of Government and immortalized the cornerstone American principles of federalism, the rule of law, and the separation of powers. Guided by these eternal truths, our Nation has been unfailingly sustained by its devotion to justice, sovereignty, and the common good of its citizens. To this day, these principles and our constitutional framework remain the bedrock of our Nation and the fount of our greatness.
Our ancestors believed that the privileges of citizenship also come with obligations — including love of country, devotion to our fellow countrymen, and a steadfast commitment to preserving our inheritance of freedom. From the very beginning of our national story, responsible citizenship has meant obeying our laws, defending our flag, honoring our heritage, and guarding our homeland and our constitutional way of life against those who seek to destroy it — from within or without.
For this reason, on my first day in office, I signed an Executive Order to Protect the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship, reaffirming that citizenship is a sacred bond between citizen and country.
I am further defending the value of American citizenship and fighting back against the left-wing arsonists seeking to defile our history and defame our Founding by teaching the truth about our Nation’s history in our museums, saving American education and returning power to the American parent, and shutting down every radical “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” program in the Federal Government.
I have also taken bold action to preserve the dignity of the American flag — the banner under which millions have fought and died — by signing an Executive Order to prosecute those who desecrate our Stars and Stripes.
As we approach the 250th anniversary of our Independence next year, we proudly recommit to upholding our constitutional heritage, striving toward a more perfect Union, and forging a future that honors our values, celebrates our traditions, and restores America as one glorious Nation under God.
The Congress, by joint resolution of February 29, 1952 (36 U.S.C. 106), designated September 17 as “Constitution Day and Citizenship Day,” and by joint resolution of August 2, 1956 (36 U.S.C. 108), requested that the President proclaim the week beginning September 17 and ending September 23 of each year as “Constitution Week.”
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim the week of September 17 through September 23, 2025, as Constitution Week. Throughout this week, I call on all teachers, school administrators, and State and local leaders to educate America’s pupils on the rights and responsibilities of citizenship under our constitutional order. In doing so, we will ensure “a more perfect Union,” will continue to prosper for generations to come.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fiftieth.
DONALD J. TRUMP
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