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. The Reubin O'D. Askew Department of Government hosts a Constitution Day event each year to remind us of those laws to which we give our consent as members of the body politic.
About the Constitution Day Series
Each year, the University of West Florida Reubin O'D. Askew Department of Government joins the nation in commemorating the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787. The day highlights the Constitution’s foundational role in American democracy, individual rights and civic responsibilities. Also recognized as Citizenship Day, it encourages reflection on what it means to be an American citizen and underscores the importance of civic education and engagement across generations.
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.
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.
For more information on the US Constitution, visit the National Constitution Center.
September 17, 2026 | Constitution Day Events
UWF will commemorate Constitution Day 2026 with a series of lectures and discussions examining the ideas and debates that shaped the nation’s founding.
The day begins at noon with political scientist Dr. Paul R. DeHart, professor of political science at Texas State University, presenting Is There No Virtue Among Us?: Interest, Ambition, and the Common Good in the Framers' Constitutional Design, in the University Commons Conference Ballroom. DeHart will explore the motivations that shaped the creation of the Constitution.
Dr. DeHart is the author of The Social Contract in the Ruins: Natural Law and Government by Consent (University of Missouri Press 2024), Uncovering the Constitution’s Moral Design (University of Missouri Press 2007 and 2017), and editor, with Carson Holloway, of Reason, Revelation, and the Civic Order: Political Philosophy and the Claims of Faith (Northern Illinois University Press 2014). DeHart has published articles in journals such as Polity, Critical Review, Locke Studies, Perspectives on Political Science, National Affairs, and the Catholic Social Science Review. He has also published several essays of public scholarship at online journals and webzines such as Public Discourse and Law & Liberty. His public scholarship has been discussed within multiple presidential campaigns.
*The noon event is sponsored in part by the University of West Florida College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, the Reubin O’D. Askew Department of Government, and the Jack Miller Center.
Guests are invited to continue the conversation with DeHart at 3 p.m. when he joins historian Dr. James Hankins (University of Florida) for Federalists or Anti-Federalists: The Verdict After 250 Years, a public forum in the University Commons Conference Ballroom.
Dr. Hankins is Professor of Humanities at the Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida in the 2026–2027 academic year. An intellectual historian, he is currently a Visiting Professor at the Hamilton School, having taught at Harvard University for the past 40 years. He is a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy and the winner of the Academy’s Serena Medal for Italian history (2024). He was awarded the Paul Oskar Kristeller Lifetime Achievement Award by the Renaissance Society of America in 2012. He was a Visiting Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, in 2014. His main research interests are the history of Renaissance political thought, the history of Platonic philosophy and history of the classical tradition.
*The 3:00 p.m. event is sponsored in part by The Academy of American Civic Republicanism at UWF, the Reubin O’D. Askew Department of Government, and the Jack Miller Center.
The university’s Constitution Day events will conclude with a 6:30 p.m. lecture by Dr. Hankins, presenting The Constitution and the Western Republican Tradition, at the Voices of Pensacola Multicultural Center in downtown Pensacola. Hankins’ lecture will explain the lessons from past republics that inspired the American Founders–from Rome, Florence, Venice, the Netherlands, and the British Commonwealth–to create an unprecedented constitutional system that entrusted significant power to the people.
*The 6:30 p.m. event is sponsored by the University of West Florida Academy of American Civic Republicanism and made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities Celebrate America! grant.
Choose one event or join us throughout the day on September 17, 2026, as we celebrate our country's unique achievement.
All events are free and open to the public.
Past Constitution Day Events
September 24, 2025 | Constitution Day Lecture
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John Dickinson and the Creation of Independence
The Reubin O’D. Askew Department of Government hosted its annual Constitution Day lecture on September 24th in the UWF Conference Center Ballroom. This year’s event featured Dr. Jane E. Calvert, historian and founding director of The John Dickinson Writings Project.
Dr. Calvert spoke on the political thought of John Dickinson, one of the few American leaders to contribute to the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the U.S. Constitution. Her award-winning biography, Penman of the Founding: A Biography of John Dickinson (Oxford, 2024), provides further insight into his life and legacy.
“As a department, we’ve expanded our community outreach with events like World Languages Movie Night, the Seligman and Askew Lectures, and the annual foreign policy webinar,” said Dr. David Ramsey, chair of the Askew Department of Government. “But Constitution Day remains our signature event, giving students and community members an opportunity to reflect on the enduring significance of the Constitution. This year, it was a real pleasure to watch our students engage Dr. Calvert with thoughtful questions and hear her respond in real time.
Dr. Calvert was interviewed by T.S. Strickland for WUWF ahead of the Constitution Day event. You may read or listen to the interview at this link.
Watch 2025 Constitution Day Lecture
October 10, 2024 | Constitution Day Lecture
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The Constitution and Freedom of Speech - Dr. Elizabeth Amato
Continuing the University of West Florida's 2024 Constitution Day events, the Reubin O’D. Askew Department of Government hosted Dr. Elizabeth Amato, Associate Professor of Political Science for the Department of Social Science at Gardner Webb University, on Thursday, October 10, 2024 to speak on “The Constitution and Freedom of Speech.”
All UWF faculty, staff, students and alumni were invited. This lecture was also open to the public.
Watch 2024 Constitution Day Lecture
September 30, 2023 | Constitution Day Lecture
Is the Electoral College a Constitutional Crisis Waiting to Happen? - Dr. Keith E. Whittington
The 2023 Constitution Day event, September 20, 2023, featured lecturer, Dr. Keith E. Whittington, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics in the Department of Politics at Princeton University. Dr. Whittington presented, “Is the Electoral College a Constitutional Crisis Waiting to Happen?”
All UWF faculty, staff, students and alumni were invited. This lecture was also open to the public.
Dr. Whittington specializes on topics such as American constitutional history, the intersection of politics and law, and American political thought. He has authored Repugnant Laws: Judicial Review of Acts of Congress from the Founding to the Present and Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech, among other works. Dr. Whittington is the founding chair of Academic Freedom Alliance and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, and the University of Texas School of Law, and he is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also served on the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States.
Watch 2023 Constitution Day Lecture
September 12, 2022 | Constitution Day Lecture
Is Administrative Law Constitutional? - Dr. Joseph Postell
Sept. 12th, The Reubin D. Askew Department of Government welcomed Dr. Joseph Postell, associate professor of politics at Hillsdale College, as he presented "Is Administrative Law Constitutional?" Postell's lecture was the featured event for UWF's 2022 Constitution Day. The lecture was the third in a series of three supported by the Jack Miller Center, which dedicated funding to support statesmanship, constitutionalism, and culture.
Dr. Postell's teaches political theory. His research interests focus on understanding the political institutions that determine how politics works in America and the modern administrative state, Congress, and political parties.
Watch 2022 Constitution Day Lecture
Past Constitution Day Speakers
- 2022: "Is Administrative Law Constitutional" with Dr. Joseph Postell, Hillsdale College
- 2021: Dr. Richard J. Dougherty, University of Dallas.
- 2020: No campus gathering due to COVID-19
- 2019: CASSH Presentation of "An Evening with Carl Hiaasen" as part of the Seligman First Amendment Lecture Series
- 2018: A Panel Discussion on "The Constitution and American Higher Education Today" with Faculty Members: Dr. Adam Cayton, Dr. Hal White, Dr. Randy Reid, Dr. Richard Hough, and Dr. Jacob Shively
- 2017: "Impressment, Mutiny and the Seafaring Origins of the Federal Courts" presented by:
Dr. Matthew Brogdon, Assistant Professor at the University of Texas San Antonio - 2016: "Liberty as a Lodestar: The Constitution's Commitment to Freedom" presented by:
Dr. Adam Carrington, Assistant Professor at Hillsdale College - 2015: A Panel Discussion of the Constitution with UWF Faculty Members:
Dr. Alfred Cuzán, Dr. James Miklovich, Dr. David Ramsey,
Dr. Jacob Shively, and Dr. Michelle Williams - 2014: A Lecture on the United State's Constitution presented by:
The Honorable Terry D. Terrell, Circuit Judge, First Judicial Circuit State of Florida - 2013: "Gideon v. Wainwright at 50: Fulfilling Gideon's Promise" presented by:
Dr. Teri Fine, Professor at the University of Central Florida - 2012: "Does Thomas Jefferson Still Survive After Reappointment?" presented by:
Dr. Keith Gaddie, Professor at the University of Oklahoma - 2011: "American Exceptionalism: Past, Present, and Past Again" presented by:
Dr. Michael Bailey, Associate Professor at Berry College - 2010: "Tradition and Modernity: The Original Constitution" presented by:
Dr. James R. Stoner, Jr., Professor at Louisiana State University - 2009: "The Founders and the Furnishing of Mind" presented by
Dr. Hadley Arkes, Professor at Amherst College - 2008: "The President and the Constitution in the Age of Terror" presented by:
Dr. Marc Landy, Co-author of Presidential Greatness - 2007: Lecture by Dr. Gordon Lloyd
- 2006: The Original Understanding of the Bill of Rights" presented by:
Dr. Hadley Arkes, Professor at Amherst College