WEST BARNSTABLE – A reenactor portraying the second President of the United States, John Adams, will take part in a town hall-style forum Monday at Cape Cod Community College.
The National Constitution Day event will provide insight from the Founding Father into the creation of the constitution and some of the issues associated with the supreme law of the land.
The U.S. Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787.
John Adams was the father of the Massachusetts Constitution, which was written several years before the U.S. Constitution.
“It is sort of a model for the U.S. Constitution and he’s quite an authority on the subject,” said Mark Forest, a Cape Cod Community College professor.
Forest said the values and activism of the nation’s people has ensured the constitution’s survival.
“When you look at what’s happening around the world today – the challenges that other democracies are facing – you realize what a remarkable achievement it is to not only have created a document like this, but to have it sustain and be with us for over 230 years,” Forest said.
Forest said participation is the key to the document’s endurance.
“The more people are engaged the more it works,” he said. “So public involvement, public participation, is incredibly important in sustaining the health of our government and the health of our democracy.”
The forum is free and open to the public and starts at noon.
Cape and Islands State Senator Julian Cyr will moderate the forum, which will be on the second floor of the college’s Lorusso Technology Building.
Copies of the constitution will be distributed.
“I think it will be informative. It’ll be fun and we’ll have a great time and we are looking forward to seeing a lot of people there at the community college on Monday,” Forest said.
By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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