I hope you have a beautiful Fourth of July weekend, wherever you live and however you intend to celebrate the 249th Birthday of the United States of America. We have a lot of things planned for this long weekend, most of it involving work in the garden. By this time of year, everything is growing wildly and needs to be harvested or weeded. My job every year is picking the blueberries and preserving them in such a way that we can make copious jars of jam later in the season…

It’s a great month to be American, folks! The ebook versions of the two history books I wrote with my wife, Denise Kiernan, are on sale across all platforms. For the entire month of February, you’ll be able to pick up each book for $2.99. Bosom buddies Samuel Adams and John Hancock can’t stop nodding their Huzzahs in assent!

So—yay!—it’s Constitution Day, a little-known federal holiday during which all good Americans are supposed to celebrate the signing of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia back in 1787. I’d venture to say most Americans don’t know the holiday even exists, and rarely celebrate it if they they do.

Some reasons why:

• Fourth of July is more fun.

• Fourth of July falls in the middle of summer, not the waning days of summer.

• Americans love to give their opinions on the Constitution, but they don’t really know much about its origins.

Here’s how you can rectify that sad state of affairs right quick…