In a recent delivery to our Indio Branch, a small yet powerful paperback arrived.  It was The Constitutions of California and the United States, Ref. KFC 679.U55. Yes, you can find the US and California Constitutions online, but there is nothing like grabbing this little book and taking a walk through time.  This book contains a chronological stroll through some of the most important documents ever written, in one easy to read paperback.

Starting with the the Magna Carta (1215), this document was an important part of the long historical process that led to Constitutional Law in England.  Some rights under this exist today.  The Magna Carta influenced common and constitutional law, important to America, as England’s legal system was used as a model for our colonies. After the Magna Carta you can continue on and see the influence of one document on another – Declaration of Independence (1776) to the United States Constitution (1787) to the California Constitution (1879).

An interesting fact is that the California Constitution is much longer than the United States Constitution (which is relatively short).  In fact, the California Constitution is the 3^rd longest constitution in the world!  Now if you really want to do some reading, check out the book Constitution of the United States of America in our collection, KF 4528.US. It includes analysis and interpretation of the US Constitution.  What’s also beneficial about it is it includes annotations of each section, dissecting the constitution by paragraph.

Constitution Day is September 17^th.  Let’s show some respect to these historical documents and become better acquainted with them.  I guarantee you would learn something new and be better for it.

Some fun sites to check out:

• Constitutioncenter.org: Museum disseminating information regarding US Constitution.  Explains each article and amendment
• Constitutionalday.com: US Constitution and amendments with condensed biographies of each of the Founding Fathers