Bill of Rights Day, 2025

Proclamation 10997 of December 15, 2025

Bill of Rights Day, 2025

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Two hundred and fifty years ago, our Nation was
conceived in liberty, our freedom was wrested from the
hands of tyranny, and our people courageously united as
one Nation under God, committed to the immortal
principles of sovereignty, justice, and self-
determination. Today, we proudly celebrate the
ratification of our Bill of Rights--the revolutionary
document that enshrines in law the principles of
freedom, human dignity, and due process upon which the
United States was founded. On this Bill of Rights Day,
we proudly carry forth the bold vision of our Founding
Fathers. We recommit to the timeless freedoms enshrined
in the Bill of Rights, and we vow to always preserve,
protect, and defend our God-given rights, our glorious
American heritage, and our constitutional way of life.

Following the Revolutionary War, the framers of our
Constitution set aside 10 core protections from
government authority that would ultimately become known
as the ``Bill of Rights.'' After decades of oppression
under British rule, James Madison--the Father of the
Constitution--came to understand that it was necessary
to clearly define what freedoms the law protected,
setting the stage for the triumph of true self-
government. Though Madison was once concerned that a
written bill of rights would not succeed in fending off
forces of tyranny and oppression, his friend Thomas
Jefferson later convinced him: ``A bill of rights is
what the people are entitled to against every
government on earth, general or particular, and what no
just government should refuse or rest on inference.''

In 1789, the First United States Congress drafted the
first 10 amendments to the Constitution and later sent
them to the States to ratify. In doing so, the States
forever secured a series of freedoms that no tyrant
could ever infringe--including the rights to speak and
worship freely, to keep and bear arms, to resist
unlawful arrest and seizure of private property, to be
assured of a quick and fair trial, and to be protected
against cruel and unusual punishment--and affirmed that
the States hold all powers not granted to the Federal
Government.

More than two centuries later, these foundational legal
principles remain the lifeblood of our Republic and
continue to stand at the heart of our laws, our system
of government, and our livelihood. Our framers
understood that codifying our rights in ink alone would
not be sufficient and that our rights depended on the
endurance of bedrock American principles like the
separation of powers, due process, checks and balances,
and States' rights. Above all, however, they knew that
our rights would forever rely on a good and moral
citizenry committed to the virtues that gave rise to
our Republic and have sustained our liberty through
victory and defeat, triumphs and setbacks, and times of
peace and war since July 4, 1776.

Every day, my Administration is acting with strength
and conviction to guard these freedoms, the meaning of
American citizenship, and our constitutional heritage.
We are restoring the rule of law, fighting back against
left-wing lawfare, cleaning up our corrupt
bureaucracies and draining the swamp, and forever
ensuring that the American people do not answer to
Washington, Washington answers to the American people.

As we approach 250 glorious years of American
independence next year, we proudly carry forward the
legacy forged by our Founders in the crucible of
revolution. We renew our commitment to always upholding
the common good and the dignity of the human person--
and above all, we pledge to preserve the promise of a
proud, free, self-governing Republic for ourselves and
our posterity.

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 December 15, 2025, as
Bill of Rights Day. I call upon the people of the
United States, especially teachers, educators, and
school administrators, to mark this observance with
appropriate ceremonies and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fifteenth day of December, 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.