From the President and Chief Executive Officer
Welcome to the National Constitution Center, the only institution in America solely dedicated to fostering a greater understanding of our nation’s most cherished document. We are proud to provide schoolchildren from across the country, families from across the globe, and visitors of all ages with interactive exhibitions, presentations and public programs that tell the story of We the People.
What you see, touch, and hear at this special place will connect you in an unforgettable way with the incredible history of the formation of the United States, and will inspire you to heed the Founding Fathers’ call to keep working to “form and more perfect union” by securing “the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”
Since the Center opened its doors in 2003, it has quickly become one of America’s most respected centers of civic education, welcoming presidents, Supreme Court Justices, foreign dignitaries and celebrities. During the 2008 presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama chose to deliver his seminal speech about race relations in America from the stage of the Center’s Kirby Auditorium. Also during the campaign, the Center hosted the final and most-watched Presidential Primary Debate between the two-history making Democratic candidates, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and then-Senator Barack Obama, and served as key a campaign stop for two John McCain town hall rallies.
Our Chair Emeriti, President George H.W. Bush, calls the Center “a jewel of America,” and we are certain you will agree.
Your visit will begin with the stirring theatrical presentation “Freedom Rising,” a state-of-the-art multimedia event that brings the drama, tension and inspiration of the Constitution to life. In the main exhibition, The Story of We the People, you will have the opportunity to participate in some of the great rites of American democracy – vote for your favorite president, serve on a jury, decide a landmark case at a replica Supreme Court bench, and be sworn in as President of the United States. You also will get the chance to walk among the life-sized bronze statues of the 42 men who drafted the Constitution during the hot summer of 1787 and add your own signature to America’s governing charter.
At the Center, you will learn how our nation came to be, and you will be inspired by the role We the People continue to play in the shaping of its future.
In that spirit of citizenship, we welcome you.
Linda E. Johnson
President and Chief Executive Officer