The Constitution of the United States of America

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Why We Celebrate Constitution Day

As the fundamental law of the land, The Constitution is our most important guide to the obligations and the limitations of government in America . Constitution Day, September 17, is both an opportunity for celebrating our country's unique achievement in crafting a written body of fundamental laws for the people's government and it is also an important reminder of the knowledge necessary for good citizenship. As we know from the Declaration of Independence, the just powers of government are entirely derived from our consent. Constitution Day reminds us of those laws to which we give our consent as members of the body politic. We, here at the University of West Florida , are honored to contribute to the furtherance of a healthy civic life by providing resources to our students for their continuing education in the study of the Constitution.

Upcoming Events

September 17, 2009 -

This event is sponsored by the Division of Academic Affairs, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Office of Human Resources, and the Department of Government.

Previous Guest Lecturers

2008 Dr. Marc Landy

Marc Landy has a B.A from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University. He and Sidney Milkis wrote Presidential Greatness (Kansas U. Press, 2000). He is an author of the Environmental Protection Agency From Nixon to Clinton: Asking the Wrong Questions. He is an editor of Seeking the Center:Politics and Policymaking at the New Century (2001) and The New Politics of Public Policy. His textbook, American Government: Balancing Liberty and Democracy (co-authored with Sid Milkis) will appear in November 2003 from McGraw Hill. In addition to teaching undergraduates and graduate students, he regularly teaches public officials from Ireland and Northern Ireland about American Politics through a series of executive programs run by the Irish Institute. His recent articles include: “The Bush Presidency after 9/11: Shifting the Kaleidoscope” in the inaugural issue of the E Journal Forum, “Local Government and Environmental Policy,” in Martha Derthick ed., Dilemmas of Scale in American Federal Democracy (Cambridge U. Press 1999). and “The Politics of Risk Reform”, co-authored with Kyle Dell,

2007 Dr. Gordon Lloyd

Dr. Gordon Lloyd earned his bachelor’s degree in economics and political science at McGill University. He completed all coursework toward a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago before receiving his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in government at Claremont Graduate School. The co-author of three books on the American founding and author of two forthcoming publications on political economy, he also has numerous articles and book reviews to his credit. His areas of research span the California constitution, common law, the New Deal, slavery and the Supreme Court, and the relationship between politics and economics. He has received many teaching, research, and leadership awards including admission to Phi Beta Kappa and an appointment as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar for the Oklahoma Scholarship Leadership Program

2006 Hadley Arkes

Dr. Hadley Arkes is the Edward N. Key Professor of Jurisprudence and American Institutions at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  He has written five books with Princeton university Pres: "Bureaucracy, The Marshall Plan, and the National Interest" (1972), "The Philosopher in the City" (1981), "First Things" (1986), "Beyond the Constitution" (1990) and "The Return of George Sutherland" (1994). His most recent book, "Natural Rights and the Right to Choose" (2002), was published by Cambridge University Press. His articles have appeared in professional journals, but apart from his writing in more scholarly formats, he has become known to a wider audience through his writings in "The Wall Street Journal," "The Washington Post," "The Weekly Standard" and "National Review," where he has been a contributing editor. Arkes has also been a contributor to "First Things," a journal that took its name from his book of that title. For eight years he has written a column for "Crisis" magazine under the title of "Lifewatch," and he resumes that column occasionally with pieces for "National Review Online."

For more information, contact the Department of Government at (850) 474-2337 or email at govt@uwf.edu