Liberty Day

The Liberty Day Story

        Liberty Day began as an idea of two members of the Youth Service Committee of the Lions Club of Denver .   Teachers had a problem:  civics had been made ‘voluntary’, decreasing the number of available civics books.   But at the same time, many American history textbooks appeared without the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution printed in the back  -- takes up too much room in the book, teachers were told.   But how could kids be taught about those documents without ever seeing the words?   So private donations were collected for the printing of a pocket-sized booklet containing only the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, for free distribution.   Teachers were grateful, but had another problem.   They teach around ‘themes’, they said, and the appropriate ‘theme day’ for instruction about those documents is July 4th -- a day when students are not in school.   They needed a day during the school year to focus upon those documents and our nation’s heritage.   So a ‘theme day’ was created - and a contest named it Liberty Day.   In the first year, Liberty Day was celebrated on September 17th - the day the Constitution was signed.   Too close to the beginning of the school year, teachers decided.  Then it was suggested that Liberty Day be celebrated on December 15th -- the day the Bill of Rights was ratified.   Too close to Christmas, teachers decided.      Then they suggested that some time in March would be best for the school calendar -- and the birthday of James Madison, ‘father of the Constitution’, just happens to be March 16th!   So Liberty Day became officially celebrated on March 16th.

        On March 16th, Lions club members and other volunteers would distribute booklets to school classes.   But it was noticed that students would doodle on the booklets, throw them on the floor, and otherwise discard them.   A better distribution system was needed.     So the Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives took booklets to a school and spoke to the students for an hour.  Afterward, the students lined up for him to autograph their booklet!   Then former Colorado Senator Gary Hart took booklets to a Denver high school  and spoke to the students about the separation of powers in the Constitution, and the students seemed enthralled.    Colorado’s Attorney General Gale Norton spoke to students about constitutional cases, and kids started to see the importance of that document.   A county commissioner talked to fifth graders about why we don’t have a king in this country anymore while disbursing the booklets - and got a stack of thank-you letters from students describing what they had learned.   Now Liberty Day means that elected and previously-elected officials speak to school classes as they distribute the booklets.

         Teachers were enthusiastic about having these elected officials visit their classrooms.  But they doubted that they would have the time to contact the elected officials about being speakers.   Elected officials also responded very favorably to the idea, but doubted that they would have time to try to get teachers on the telephone to arrange the details for such visits.  Enter volunteer service club members!   The volunteer service club members act as the ‘schedulers’ for the speaker and the teacher.    Elected officials appreciate this procedure, as members of volunteer service groups are not known to be partisan lobbyists.

        The basic concern of the Liberty Day  effort is citizenship - that quality in Americans showing them to be sufficiently  aware of and interested in their government to make them competent and responsible self-governing citizens.  When young people, who are the future citizens of this country, expressed  a considerable amount of indifference toward their government, a seemingly legitimate question was raised:   how can such an apathetic  attitude among citizens maintain that degree of alertness required for American self-government?    Over two hundred years ago, at the end of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, a curious woman asked Ben Franklin, “Sir, what have you given us?”  He answered simply “A republic -- if you can keep it.”  If you can keep it -- that is our challenge today.    Ben Franklin recognized that it was not a certainty.   We have been given freedom.   We have been given liberty.   We have been given self-government.   But can we keep it?   That is the responsibility of every American.

        Liberty Day started as a project to provide booklets and speakers for the schools in the Denver area.   Then other groups in society wanted the booklets.   Boy scouts wanted them, to study for their merit badges.   Immigrants wanted them, to study for the INS citizenship test.  U.S. representatives wanted to give them to constituents at town meetings.   Judges wanted them.  Service group members wanted to give them to their grandchildren.   Every citizen should have a copy of the founding documents.

        Then other Lions club members around the state of Colorado wanted to give booklets to students in their local schools -- and to others in their communities.   The District Governors of the Colorado Lions decided to adopt Liberty Day as a statewide project, appointing a statewide coordinator.

        Then Colorado’s Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell took booklets to Washington, and handed them out to other U.S. Senators.   Senator Wayne Allard of Colorado joined in a letter explaining Liberty Day to all U.S. Congressmen.   Mayor Webb of Denver wrote a letter to other mayors. Lieutenant Governor Joe Rogers wrote to all other Lieutenant Governors around the country. Attorney General Ken Salazar wrote to all other Attorneys General.  The telephone started ringing.  A little Denver project, which had spread to the whole state of Colorado, quickly started to move around the country.    Now, ten states have Liberty Day booklets (titled “Liberty Day (their state name) “).   Many other states have appointed statewide coordinators, and are working on raising money for their booklets.   Other service groups have joined the effort, even taking the lead in some states.

         Liberty Day came to Georgia by two visiting Lions from the Denver Lions Club who gave an inspiring program about Liberty Day to a Lions club in District 18-B. This club in turn contacted then District Governor, Chuck Shurtleff about the possibility of starting a Liberty Day activity in Multiple District 18. Lion Chuck presented a program to the Council of Governors who approved of his idea and appointed him chairman of this project.

          2002 is the first year the Lions of Georgia have participated in this project. Many Lions Clubs across the state have started Liberty Day Programs to promote Liberty Day in their communities. The first printing of Liberty Day books quickly sold out with more books being ordered.

This web site is based on the work of the Colorado Lions Liberty Day Project, their web site is http://libertyday.org