Penn State's Constitution Day 2021 will revisit the 18th and 21st Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, reconsidering prohibition and repeal in both historical and contemporary contexts. The goal is to engage students, faculty, staff, and wider publics with conversations around civic engagement and the U.S. Constitution, its perils, and its promise.
The event will be held virtually from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 21 at https://civcm.psu.edu/cday2021.
The 18th Amendment, passed by Congress in December 1917, ratified in January 1919, and repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933, declared that "After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited."
Full texts of both amendments can be found here: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/amendments-11-27.
The core of the Constitution Day event will again be educational posters created by approximately 75 students in three sections of Foundations of Civic and Community Engagement (CAS 222N/CIVCM 211N), the only prescribed course for the intercollege minor in civic and community engagement. Those students will be online during part of the event to answer questions and address comments about their posters, which can focus on any constitutional issue students choose to research.
The event is sponsored by the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences, the administrative home for the intercollege minor in civic and community engagement, and by the College of the Liberal Arts. The event is also being promoted by the Office of Undergraduate Education to all the Commonwealth Campuses.
Penn State, like any institution of higher education accepting federal money, is required by federal law to mark Constitution Day each year.
Constitution Day materials will be archived online after the event at https://civcm.psu.edu/constitution-day, where information about previous Constitution Day events and resources is also available. For more information about the U.S. Constitution, visit https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution and https://constitutioncenter.org/