PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The U.S. Constitution was signed 235 years ago Saturday. To commemorate the occasion, admission fees were waived at the National Constitution Center in Old City so anyone could learn about the document.
"The founding fathers did a pretty good job, but we know they made a lot of mistakes too," said Jenna Kehres, director of learning and engagement at the National Constitution Center. "There's actually not a lot in there, so a lot of it has been left up to our interpretation."
Kehres said the founders didn't outlaw slavery and they didn’t extend voting rights to everyone. They knew the Constitution wasn't perfect, and that was the point — to create a document that could evolve along with the country and its people.
"We at the Constitution Center don't have political conversations," she said. "We are a non-partisan institution, but we want to give everybody the tools to have their own political conversations."
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Marcelino Flores brought his 13-year-old granddaughter Zarina to research for a school project. "This is where everything started, and you gotta bring her here," he said. "If you don't bring your kids here, I mean, you're not showing them history."
Zarina said it was pretty cool that the document was created with the intent of it being amended in the future, "because not everything is the same as time goes by. Everything changes. Nothing stays the same forever."
The original Constitution is stored in Washington D.C., but there is a reprint on display at the Constitution Center that came off the press just two days after the original.
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