Four pages.

That’s the entire original handwritten United States Constitution—not counting the amendments added later.

No slide deck. No executive summary. Not even a QR code explaining where to find the executive summary.

Vista is recognizing that remarkably compact document by proclaiming Sept. 17–23, 2026, as Constitution Week.

The proclamation was presented during the Vista City Council meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 8. In its announcement, the city thanked the Santa Margarita Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution for joining the commemoration.

At first glance, it looks like a routine ceremonial item.

Then you open Vista’s archives.

That is where one proclamation turns into a decades-long local story.

Vista Has Been Here Before

Vista’s available Constitution Week records span at least 37 years.

The city’s archives contain a proclamation dating to 1989. Other records place Constitution Week recognitions on council agendas in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2020.

In 2020, the proclamation received a unanimous 5–0 City Council vote.

The records do not establish that Vista issued a proclamation every year. Government archives are good at preserving paperwork. They are less talented at filling every historical blank.

What the documents do show is that multiple Vista councils have returned to the observance across several decades.

The dates follow the national calendar.

Delegates signed the Constitution in Philadelphia on Sept. 17, 1787. That makes 2026 the 239th anniversary of the signing.

Not the 250th.

The nationwide 250th-anniversary observances in 2026 commemorate American independence. The Constitution arrived 11 years later.

Different document. Different milestone. Same powdered-wig neighborhood.

What Fits on Four Pages?

The National Archives preserves the original Constitution as four handwritten parchment pages.

Those pages contain a preamble and seven articles. The first three establish the legislative, executive and judicial branches. The remaining articles address relations among states, federal supremacy, amendments and ratification.

The Bill of Rights was not squeezed into those original pages.

Congress proposed 12 amendments in 1789. Ten were ratified in 1791 and became the Bill of Rights. Today, the Constitution has 27 amendments.

Federal law designates Sept. 17 as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. It also calls for the president to proclaim Sept. 17–23 as Constitution Week each year.

The White House issued the 2026 presidential proclamation on Sept. 16.

The Daughters of the American Revolution says it petitioned Congress in 1955 to establish the annual observance. Congress adopted the resolution, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into law in 1956.

Vista’s proclamation is one small local piece of that national history.

Four pages created the framework.

Nearly 240 years later, they are still producing proclamations—and conversations much longer than four pages.

Questions Vista Readers May Be Asking:

When is Constitution Week in 2026?
It runs from Sept. 17 through Sept. 23.

When did Vista present its proclamation?
It was presented at the Sept. 8, 2026, City Council meeting.

How old is the Constitution in 2026?
The signing took place 239 years ago, on Sept. 17, 1787.

Was the Bill of Rights included in the original Constitution?
No. The first 10 amendments were ratified in 1791.