Constitutional Literacy: Introduction - The need for a National Constitutional Literacy Campaign

It is appropriate to announce the launch of the National Constitutional Literacy Campaign in a special section of The Washington Times, because it was The Washington Times that brought us together. Shortly after reviewing The Washington Times’ Pocket Constitution app, Julie reached out to Chuck, the driving force behind the launch of the app, as well as a complimentary Washington Times’ Constitution Day 2014 special section, to schedule a meeting to discuss ways we could work together to promote civic education and constitutional literacy.

We met for an early breakfast in New York City shortly thereafter and over the course of an hour developed an ambitious new plan to impact civic education by assembling the largest group of organizations devoted to promoting civic education and constitutional literacy across the learning spectrum from kindergarten to the grave, as we now like to say.

Our backgrounds are different, but we are united by our passion for ensuring that America’s citizens are actively and thoughtfully engaged. Chuck, a member of the baby boomer generation, is a venture capitalist with a passion for civic education and citizenship who started a non-profit called Essentials in Education. Julie, a millennial, is a recent law school graduate who has devoted her career to educating citizens of all ages about the United States Constitution and its history through The Constitutional Sources Project (ConSource).

We believe that without an understanding of the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights citizens cannot fully understand how the United States government functions and makes decisions that impact their daily lives. If you want to actively, thoughtfully, and meaningfully discuss and influence the major constitutional and political issues of the day, you must understand the full arc of United States constitutional history.

Recent reports, however, reflect a troubling decline in basic constitutional literacy. In 2014, the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania released a study that found that Americans know surprisingly little about their government. The survey found:

• While little more than a third of respondents (36 percent) could name all three branches of the U.S. government, just as many (35 percent) could not name a single one.
• Just over a quarter of Americans (27 percent) know it takes a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate to override a presidential veto.
• One in five Americans (21 percent) incorrectly thinks that a 5-4 Supreme Court decision is sent back to Congress for reconsideration.

Furthermore, in 2014, only 23 percent of middle school students performed at or above proficient on the civics portion of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

These statistics underscore the need for life-long civic education. Constitutional literacy should not only be emphasized in primary and secondary school, but also through adulthood, so that citizens can comprehend the complex and often controversial constitutional issues that arise. That is why the National Constitutional Literacy Campaign is bringing together groups that aim to educate citizens of all ages about our nation’s constitutional history.

To achieve our goals, we have assembled a broad and diverse group of organizations, including non-partisan non-profits like ConSource and Essentials in Education, for-profit organizations like The Washington Times, and organizations from both sides of the aisle who believe in the fundamental importance of constitutional literacy and civic education. We believe that by harnessing the power of organizations from the right, left, and center, we can reach and, ultimately, educate a much broader segment of the national population.

In this special section, you will hear from the Campaign’s founding members about the following:

• The current crisis in civic education and constitutional literacy – the troubling statistics that show how little our citizens truly know about our system of government, the absence of support for civic education at colleges and universities, the lack of both government and private philanthropic support for the very organizations designed to address this crisis;
• The effective actions of organizations that are already inspiring our citizens about the Constitution and American government, including two pieces from members who were themselves inspired by the Constitution; and
• The movements to ensure that our citizens are informed and engaged.

During the Constitutional Convention in 1787, George Washington, as president of the Convention, sat in a chair with a rising sun on it. At the end of the Convention, Benjamin Franklin, looking toward the President’s chair, observed to a few members near him that the painters had made it difficult to distinguish in their art a rising sun from a setting sun. He then said, “I have often in the course of th[is] session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the President, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now, at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising, and not a setting, sun.”

We believe Franklin’s remarks reflect the optimism of the National Constitutional Literacy Campaign. While you can look at the troubling statistics about civic education and see a setting sun, we are devoted to seeing that sun rise. Our organizations – and the many more we hope will soon join us – will ensure that we reverse the current trend in civic education and honor and preserve the republic established by the Framers 228 years ago.

We hope you will join us in making every day Constitution Day! To learn more about the National Constitutional Literacy Campaign, please visit www.constitutiondays.org, or email Julie Silverbrook at Julie.Silverbrook@consource.org.

• Julie Silverbrook is Executive Director of The Constitutional Sources Project (ConSource), a 501(c)(3) organization devoted to facilitating greater access to and understanding of United States Constitutional History. Please visit our website at www.ConSource.org to learn more.

• Chuck Stetson is CEO of the Stetson Family Office and a Managing Director and Founder of PEI Funds. He is also the Chairman and CEO of Essentials in Education, a non-profit educational publisher that seeks to enrich citizenship education. In conjunction with the Campaign’s launch, Stetson is introducing a Freedom of America Series for high school students and adults. For more information, please see www.constitutioncurriculum.org.