In case you haven’t noticed, Sunday (Sept. 17) was a significant day for Americans new and old.

It’s a celebration of us - all of us - that’s been official for about the last 20 years, though it’s been observed without much fanfare for about 236 years now.

They call it Constitution Day and within the last several years, tacked on another moniker - Citizenship Day.

On Sept. 17, 1787 in Philadelphia after nearly four months of debate 39 of 55 delegates to what we call the Constitutional Convention signed what has become the oldest government charter in history.

It was a road map for an idea that at first glance set out to make certain the new nation wouldn’t be the victim of a tyrant king. It lays out how people would be governed. A legislative branch would make the laws, the executive branch enforce them, and the judicial branch interpret them.

The living document outlines the delegates’ hope to form “a more perfect union.”

To be sure, that goal was easier to reach back when there were only 13 states. But as the young nation stretched its boundaries, the document grew and since that fateful day in Philly the Constitution has changed 27 times.

Amendments, as they’re called, reflect those changes. The first 10 have come to be known as The Bill of Rights. They protect things we take for granted these days. Some of those things are still being debated today. Our right to own firearms comes to mind, especially in these days of mass shootings and the senseless death they bring.

Americans have freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to worship, to be tried by a jury of their peers and perhaps most important to those of us here at the Times News, a free press that exists as a watchdog over those who govern.

Other changes came, too.

The document abolished slavery. It guaranteed every man - no matter the color of his skin - the right to vote and later realized its error and made certain that women could cast their ballot as well as any man could.

Just as soldiers came home from the Great War, in 1920 the Constitution made it illegal for them to make, consume and transport alcohol. Twelve years later, the nation changed its mind and the booze was flowing again.

It gives states oversight on any laws that aren’t part of the federal government, and even includes an amendment that says, basically, if we missed anything, it’s an automatic right of an individual.

Another amendment to the Constitution deals with term limits for presidents. Used to be - back in the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt - there weren’t any. These days, the Commander in Chief can only spend eight years - two terms - in the White House.

Interestingly, a group of Philadelphia area fifth graders put their heads together earlier this year in a contest to write a 28th Amendment that would limit Congress members to two terms. Senators now serve 6-year terms. Members of the House of Representatives run for office every two years.

The students proposed a change to “insure that we have fair and just elections,” keeping the president at two 4-year terms, senators at two 6-year terms, House members at two 4-year terms and holding Supreme Court Justices to 15 years maximum, with current justices serving no more than 25 years.

The 118th Congress has 19 members who are 80 or older. They’ve spent a lifetime running for office.

In the Senate, names like Feinstein, Grassley, McConnell and Sanders have been around for years.

Depending on what survey you consider, as many as 82% of Americans feel that Congressional terms should be limited.

You might put those fifth-graders in that group.

Ed Socha | tneditor@tnonline.com