---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 407aa"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "407aa"
heading: "Findings and purposes"
release: "119-102"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/407aa"
units:
  - "Chapter 1 — National Parks, Military Parks, Monuments, and Seashores"
  - "Subchapter LI–A — National Constitution Center"
---

# §407aa. Findings and purposes

- (a) **Findings—** Congress finds that:
  - (1) 1987 was the bicentennial of the signing of the United States Constitution;
  - (2) commemoration of the Constitution’s bicentennial included various events conducted by the Federal [Commission](/usc/16/410cc–1.md?p=3) on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution, and [State](/usc/16/6456.md?p=2) and local bicentennial [commissions](/usc/16/410cc–1.md?p=3);
  - (3) bicentennial activities included important educational and instructional [programs](/usc/16/460ss–6.md?p=1) to heighten public awareness of the Constitution and the democratic process;
  - (4) educational [programs](/usc/16/460ss–6.md?p=1) for the Constitution should continue after the bicentennial to document its profound impact on the political, economic and social development of this Nation, and in order to recognize those Americans instrumental in the history of the Constitution; and
  - (5) [units](/usc/16/430f–7.md?p=4) of the [National Park](/usc/16/410hhh–1.md?p=5) [System](/usc/16/668ee.md?p=14) [preserve](/usc/16/410hhh–1.md?p=7) and interpret key historic sites that document the history of the origins, subsequent development, and effects of the United States Constitution on this Nation.
- (b) **Purposes—** It is therefore the policy of the Congress to provide each of the following:
  - (1) the necessary [resources](/usc/16/410hhh–1.md?p=8) to develop a national resource center to undertake, on an ongoing basis, educational [programs](/usc/16/460ss–6.md?p=1) on the Constitution;
  - (2) exhibits of, and an archives for, [programs](/usc/16/460ss–6.md?p=1) on or related to the recent bicentennial of the United States Constitution; and
  - (3) interpretation of the United States Constitution at those [units](/usc/16/430f–7.md?p=4) of the [National Park](/usc/16/410hhh–1.md?p=5) [System](/usc/16/668ee.md?p=14) particularly relevant to its history.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 100–433, § 2, Sept. 16, 1988, 102 Stat. 1640.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Short Title

Pub. L. 100–433, § 1, Sept. 16, 1988, 102 Stat. 1640, provided that: “This Act [enacting this subchapter] may be cited as the ‘Constitution Heritage Act of 1988’.”