Have You Read the U.S. Constitution?
If you’ve never read it, begin.
If you’ve read it before, return.
Read or listen to the U.S. Constitution and all 27 amendments from beginning to end.
READ • LISTEN • COMPLETE
We the People have a Constitution. Have we read it? This challenge asks each of us to do something remarkably simple: read or listen to the Constitution and all 27 amendments from beginning to end. The challenge doesn’t tell you what conclusion to reach. If you’ve never completed it, begin. If you’ve read it before, return. Start with the source, do the work, and finish it. All of it.
https://youtu.be/6nLYiGP2AZs
We the People Have a Constitution. Have We Read It?
I’ve skipped the Constitution for most of my life.
I knew pieces of the Constitution. I knew “We the People.” I knew some of the Bill of Rights, and phrases from the different amendments. I had taken U.S. Government classes, voted in elections, followed political debates and lived my entire life under the system of government the Constitution helped establish.
But had I ever read the whole thing?
No.
I had pieced together my understanding from school, history, news, politics, other people and scattered passages from the document itself. Some of those were valuable guides. But I had never gone back and completed the source for myself.
Eventually, that started to bother me.
We the People have a Constitution. Have we read it?
Not a summary. Not our favorite amendment. Not somebody else’s explanation of what it means.
The Constitution itself, from “We the People” through the 27th Amendment.
That’s the challenge.
For some, this will be a first complete reading. For others, it will be a return to a document they’ve read, studied, taught, interpreted or wrestled with before.
Wherever you’re starting, go to the source and complete it from beginning to end.
All of it. That’s where we begin.
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[Read the Constitution] [Listen to the Constitution]
How Long Does It Take to Complete the U.S. Constitution?
The Constitution may look intimidating, but completing it doesn’t require weeks of study.
According to the National Archives, the original Constitution contains 4,543 words, including the signatures, and takes about half an hour to read.[1]
You can listen to the entire Constitution and all 27 amendments in under an hour. The Pilgrimage recording of the Constitution and all 27 amendments, for example, runs just over 51 minutes.
Less than an hour. Beginning to end.
Read it yourself or choose a complete audio recording. Take a walk. Listen during a commute. Break it into a few sessions if you need to.
The point isn’t speed.
The point is finishing.
Constitution Day and Citizenship Day: September 17
September 17 is officially designated Constitution Day and Citizenship Day.
The day commemorates the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787, while also recognizing American citizenship. Federal law encourages the complete instruction of citizens in their responsibilities and opportunities as citizens of the United States.
That raises a question worth asking:
What does informed citizenship ask of us?
Citizenship carries rights, responsibilities and opportunities. However we entered into that citizenship, understanding the system of government we participate in is work worth doing.
The Constitution begins with three familiar words: “We the People.”
Constitution Day and Citizenship Day is an opportunity for We the People to return to what comes next.
Read it. Listen to it. Complete it.
Read or Listen to the U.S. Constitution
Read the Constitution
Prefer reading? The complete U.S. Constitution and all 27 amendments are available below.
For this Challenge, the National Archives transcriptions of the original Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Amendments 11–27 have been brought together in one place so you can read them from beginning to end.
Take your time. Read it in one sitting or return to it over several sessions.
The point is to complete it from beginning to end.
📜 Click to Expand the Full U.S. Constitution and All 27 Amendments
Sources: National Archives
- U.S. Constitution
- Bill of Rights: Amendments 1–10
- Amendments 11–27
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/amendments-11-27
[ACCORDION BEGINS]
The Constitution of the United States
[Full National Archives transcription]
Bill of Rights: Amendments 1–10
[Full National Archives transcription]
Amendments 11–27
[Full National Archives transcription]
[ACCORDION ENDS]
Completed the Constitution and all 27 amendments?
[Mark the Challenge Complete]
Listen to the Constitution
Prefer to listen? Choose a complete audio recording and follow the Constitution from “We the People” through the 27th Amendment.
Pilgrimage
Complete reading of the U.S. Constitution and all 27 amendments. Just over 51 minutes.
[Listen to the U.S. Constitution and All 27 Amendments]
LibriVox – About 56 minutes
Public-domain audio recording of the U.S. Constitution and amendments.
Listen with LibriVox
https://www.law.uchicago.edu/recordings/david-currie-reads-us-constitution
Other recordings to consider:
United States Constitution · Amendments · Bill of Rights · Complete Text + Audio
Listen to the US Constitution and Amendments
If You’ve Taken an Oath to the Constitution, This Challenge Is Especially for You
Millions of Americans have made a promise involving the U.S. Constitution.
Members of the armed forces swear to support and defend it. Federal officials and employees take oaths to support and defend it. Members of Congress, state legislators, judges and other public officials are bound by oath or affirmation to support it. The President swears to preserve, protect and defend it. Naturalized citizens also take an Oath of Allegiance that includes a promise to support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States.
Those are serious promises.
And they raise a simple question:
Have you read the document you promised to uphold?
If the answer is no, begin.
If the answer is yes, ask one more question:
When did you last return to it?
Patriotism can be expressed in many ways. We can fly the flag, celebrate our history, serve our communities and participate in our democracy. But surely our devotion to a country can also ask something of us.
It can ask us to do the work.
If we call the Constitution foundational, quote its words, appeal to its authority, or swear an oath to support and defend it, reading it from beginning to end is a meaningful place to start. Returning to it keeps that knowledge from becoming a distant memory.
Before we swear to defend it, let’s read it. And after we do, let’s keep returning.
CTA BUTTONS:
[Read the Constitution] [Listen to the Constitution]
Complete the U.S. Constitution Challenge
Read or listen to the U.S. Constitution and all 27 amendments from beginning to end.
If it’s your first time, begin.
If you’ve read it before, return.
If you’ve studied it for years, return to the source and do the work again.
All of it.
Reading the Constitution once isn’t the end of understanding it. It’s where we begin.
Read. Listen. Complete. Keep going.
Mark the Challenge Complete
If you’ve completed the U.S. Constitution and all 27 amendments from beginning to end, add your name alongside others who have done the work.
[Mark the Challenge Complete]
A Higher Standard for Leadership
Reading the Constitution from beginning to end is a starting point.
For those who seek positions of public trust, teach the Constitution, interpret it, or invoke it to lead others, the work shouldn’t end there.
People who ask to lead under the Constitution should know the Constitution.
People who devote themselves to studying its text, history, meaning and application should be recognized for doing deeper work.
Study it. Question it. Wrestle with its history and interpretation. Learn from historians, scholars, teachers, judges and others who have spent years seeking to understand it.
Then return to the source again.
The United States would benefit from more citizens and leaders willing to make that effort.
Knowledge before proclamation. The work before the claim.
What Is Pilgrimage?
Pilgrimage begins with a simple conviction:
Important beliefs deserve our effort.
Before quoting a document, defending an idea, rejecting a claim or building convictions around it, start by doing the work.
Sometimes that means reading a source from beginning to end.
Sometimes it means understanding the evidence, observing an experiment, studying the history or learning from people who have devoted years to the subject.
The work changes. The responsibility does not.
Pilgrimage is an invitation to take greater responsibility for how we arrive at what we believe.
Start with the source. Do the work. Keep going.
Continue Your Pilgrimage
The U.S. Constitution Challenge is one place to begin.
Future Pilgrimage Challenges will explore influential texts, ideas, evidence and traditions through the same discipline: start with the source and do the work.
Join Pilgrimage to receive future Challenges, recordings and reflections.
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H3: Want to Go Deeper?
Why start with the source in the first place?
Listen to Episode 1 of the Pilgrimage Podcast: “What Is Your Source?”
[Listen to What Is Your Source?]
END
Start The US Patriot Challenge Now
1. Read or Listen to the entire US Constitution and All Amendments
- US Constitution Video on YouTube
- US Constitution Audio Download – Listen on SoundCloud
- Read the Transcription – Provided by The National Constitution Center
- Read on The Interactive Constitution Mobile App: Apple iOS or Google
2. Add the comment “Complete” on Facebook or Instagram.
3. Share the US Constitution Patriot Challenge with Others
US Constitution Audio Download – Listen Here
Listen below or easily download this audio reading of the US Constitution by clicking the arrow on the Pilgrimage SoundCloud file.
The audio file contains the full Constitution of the United States including:
- Preamble to the Constitution
- All Articles of the Constitution
- Names of Who Signed the Constitution
- All 27 US Constitution Amendments
Helpful Tips on Listening to the Constitution
It may be helpful to have a written transcription of the Constitution open as you listen, one that identifies which original sections have been replaced due to a Constitutional Amendment. The transcription linked to above puts all language that has been changed by an amendment in brackets. And this one from The National Archives puts those sections in blue with links to see more info about the amendment that changed it.
Make the Effort First. Earn Your Place in Conversations
Americans — Before you next hold up a sign with your favorite amendment or the words “We The People,” before you next declare, “It is my fundamental right according to the US Constitution,” or before you appeal to others with, “as our Founding Fathers said,” first let all the real words of this most sacred historical document actually become part of your knowledge and experience. Stop skipping and start doing.
Have You Ever Actually Read Your Own Constitution?
A poll taken by Marquette University Law School asked this question: “Have you personally ever read the entire Constitution, either in school or on your own?” The results of the survey revealed that 57% of the Americans polled haven’t read the Constitution.
Take the “Have You Read It?” Constitution Survey Below
Become an Informed Citizen – Read The Constitution
“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” – John F. Kennedy
One idea of what you can do for your country:
Read or listen to America’s most sacred document, learn the absolute basics of how the USA operates, and begin contributing to your country as an informed citizen of the United States of America.
How Long Is The US Constitution?
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration notes that the United States Constitution “has 4,543 words, including the signatures but not the certificate on the interlineations; and takes about half an hour to read.” [1] When you add the 27 amendments to the Constitution, it will take another 20 minutes. So at a modest pace, you can confidently make it through the entire document, all names that signed it and all amendments in under one hour.
Reading The US Constitution is an American Duty
Take the most important step you could ever take toward future conversations, debates, arguments, elections and our way of life. Read or listen to the US Constitution and all of its amendments.
For the sake of our country, the way we speak with one another, how we treat our neighbors, our place in the world and the decisions we’ll make on how to run our nation, take the first basic step toward understanding. Read the Constitution of the United States, or at the very least, let someone else read it to you.
Demonstrate Patriotism: Give One Hour to the US Constitution
King Solomon — whom many praise for his wisdom — importantly said, “Do not have zeal without knowledge, not be hasty and miss the way.” [2]
Upload the knowledge to your brain by reading it before you quote it. The same standard would be awesome for all sacred documents we quote, but rarely fully read. Once you have that knowledge, then share your passion. Anything short of that is zeal without knowledge.
American Patriot Priority Check
Many of us have completed the entire Harry Potter series (a 60-hour project [3]) but have never fully read our own US Constitution and all amendments (a 1-hour project). I’ve certainly been in that boat for all of my life until 2020. What was I thinking?! Clearly, I wasn’t. For the sake of our country’s health, let’s double-check our priorities and make a change toward a more informed America.
Audio Read By: Jeremy Kocal
Go Even Further: Read the Declaration of Independence
Do the basics and up your game American patriot. Read or listen to the other essential document to understanding the American way of life. Take the US Constitution Patriot Challenge one step further and read or listen to the Declaration of Independence.
Did You Complete the Challenge?
You’ve read the entire Constitution of the United States and all amendments? How patriotic of you American! Add “Complete” in the comments below as an official “Reader of the US Constitution.” And be sure to share the challenge with other Americans!
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