TIFTON — Members of the local Tallassee Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution will celebrate Constitution Week Sept. 17-23. Tifton Mayor Jamie Cater signed a proclamation Friday officially proclaiming the week.

DAR promotes the week as a national celebration of America’s most important document, according to a press release from DAR National Headquarters. The Daughters petitioned Congress in 1955 to set aside Sept. 17-23 annually and a law was signed on Aug. 2, 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaiming the week. DAR members use the week to emphasize citizens’ responsibilities for protecting and defending the Constitution, informing people that the Constitution is the basis for America’s heritage and the foundation for its way of life and for encouraging the study of historical events that led to the framing of the Constitution in September 1787.

The local DAR chapter will be busy during Constitution Week announcing the event at local churches in the Tifton area with special patriotic music performed. On Sept. 16, the chapter will celebrate with a banquet at Ridge Avenue Church of Christ with DAR State Regent Barbara Chastain, who will speak on “The Constitution — For the People, By the People.”

DAR members are guiding students at Tift County High School and Tiftarea Academy in a week of study of the Constitution. Proclamations will be signed by the principals of the two schools as well as by teachers, parents and students. A Constitution ceremony will be held at the TCHS flag pole and chimes will ring at 4 p.m. Sept. 17, the actual date the Constitution was signed.

“Constitution Week is the perfect opportunity to read and study this great document which is the safeguard of our American liberties,” said DAR President General Linda Gist Calvin. “We encourage all citizens across the country to take time this week to reflect on our heritage of freedom.”

DAR has served America for 118 years as its foremost cheerleader. In 1928, the Daughters began work on a building as a memorial to the Constitution. John Russell Pope, architect of the Jefferson Memorial, was commissioned to design the performing arts center, known as DAR Constitution Hall. Today, DAR Constitution Hall is the only structure erected in tribute to the Constitution of the United State of America.

Known as the largest women’s patriotic organization in the world, DAR has over 165,000 members with approximately 3,000 chapters in all 50 states and 1 foreign countries. The DAR has long promoted patriotism through commemorative celebrations, memorials, scholarships and activities for children and programs for new immigrants. For more information about DAR and its programs, visit the Web site at www.dar.org or call (202) 628-1776.