Bill of Rights Day, 2016

Proclamation 9554 of December 14, 2016

Bill of Rights Day, 2016

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

After much debate and deliberation among the Framers,
the first 10 Amendments to our Constitution were
written to reflect a compromise between preserving the
rights of individual citizens and supporting a strong
and secure Federal Government. Since its ratification
on December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights has enshrined
many of our most fundamental liberties and unalienable
rights--including the freedoms of speech, worship, and
assembly; the rights to trial by jury and due process,
and the protections from unreasonable search and
seizure and cruel and unusual punishment. For 225
years, the Bill of Rights has shaped our Nation and
protected our citizens, and today, in honor of all
those who have worked to secure these freedoms, we
strive to continue forming a more perfect Union guided
by an enduring belief in these highest ideals.

As it was originally created, the Bill of Rights
safeguarded personal liberties and ensured equal
justice under the law for many--but not for all. In the
centuries that followed its ratification, courageous
Americans agitated and sacrificed to extend these
rights to more people, moving us closer to ensuring
opportunity and equality are not limited by one's race,
sex, or circumstances. The desire and capacity to forge
our own destinies have propelled us forward at every
turn in history. The same principles that drove
patriots to choose revolution over tyranny, a country
to cast off the stains of slavery, women to reach for
the ballot, and workers to organize for their rights
still remind us that our freedom is intertwined with
the freedom of others. If we are to ensure the sacred
ideals embodied in the Bill of Rights are afforded to
everyone, each generation must do what those who came
before them have done and recommit to holding fast to
our values and protecting these freedoms.

Two and a quarter centuries later, these 10
Constitutional Amendments remain a symbol of one of our
Nation's first successful steps in our journey to
uphold the rights of all citizens. On Bill of Rights
Day, we celebrate the long arc of progress that
transformed our Nation from a fledgling and fragile
democracy to one in which civil rights are the
birthright of all Americans. This progress was never
inevitable, and as long as people remain willing to
fight for justice, we can work to swing open more doors
of opportunity and carry forward a vision of liberty
and equality for generations to come.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, 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, 2016, as
Bill of Rights Day. I call upon the people of the
United States to mark this observance with appropriate
ceremonies and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fourteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord two
thousand sixteen, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and forty-first.