Interesting ways to give away many copies of the US Constitution?

April 20, 2005 11:09 PM

I have about 100 copies of a wonderful little "keepsake" booklet that contains 100% of the unabridged US Constitution text and nothing else. I want to give them away (and not to any schools) and am trying to think of a fun way to do it.

The most obvious is to just leave them lying about at coffeehouses and bus stops. But then I thought maybe I should order a stamp and print instructions on the back telling the "finder" to read it and pass it on. There must be better ideas out there though-- what would you do with them, how would you dispose of them in an inspired way? (ps: if it costs me a little money to do it (like the stamp example) that is ok and if it matters I am in Portland, OR.)

posted by limitedpie to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

To expand on your "passing them on" idea: you could individually number them, then do a Where's George thing by providing a website where people can go and track them as they travel around.
posted by falconred at 11:14 PM on April 20, 2005

I like your invitation to read then pass it on idea.

Is it small enough to roll such that it will fit through a 1.5" opening? If so, maybe stick a couple of them in bottles, cork them, and throw them on the outgoing tide. (Preferably with the website idea mentioned above so you know if they ever get found :) A lot of glass drink bottles these days have wide mouths and labels that just peel right off.

Ok, maybe that's not so suited to this, but everyone should put something in a bottle at least once in their lifetime :)

Another idea (likewise ill-suited but potentially fun in the process :) might be geocaching. It's excuse-for-gadgets sport where you look up the GPS coordinates of a treasure stash on the web, then go out in the real world to try to find it. If you do, you are free to take any item of treasure, but must bring something of your own to leave in its place, so that the cache never empties.

Could you print out a little "Please take one" display stand, and put that somewhere with a few in it?

Or leave one or two on the shelves of bookstores among the regular merchandise? Waiting rooms?

Seal one in a bubble-wrap envelope marked in big letters with something like "Classified", or "With love! - Sam", or "DO NOT OPEN", and leave it on a park bench? (You definitely want a "Where's George" system for that kind of thing :)
posted by -harlequin- at 11:48 PM on April 20, 2005

I heard John Ashcroft is out of toilet paper.
posted by orthogonality at 12:43 AM on April 21, 2005

If you like the read and pass along idea try bookcrossing. You can print off instructions and leave them somewhere to be found as you say. Log it's details on the website and follow their travels. I've been aware of the site for ages but have yet to set any books free...
posted by floanna at 3:23 AM on April 21, 2005

Take a small piece of metal, glue it into the cover of one of them, and keep it in your pocket next time you go through a metal detector. When you set the detector off, apologize, pull the Constitution out of your pocket as if you had forgotten it was there, and hand it to the security guy. When you leave, let him keep it.

Repeat until you've given them all away.

(Idea stolen from Penn Jillette, who always travels with the Bill of Rights--Security Edition.)
posted by yankeefog at 5:26 AM on April 21, 2005

I love the website idea, but I just want to remind you that people are flakes, and a lot will pick it up and mean to stop by the site, and then just forget and it will end up at the bottom of a closet :). But, with 100 in circulation you should get a little action, so it's worth giving it a shot.
posted by mdn at 6:13 AM on April 21, 2005

Send one to every politician that uses the term "Activist Judges" in a sound byte. You should be depleted of them in no time.
posted by juggler at 6:34 AM on April 21, 2005

(Idea stolen from Penn Jillette, who always travels with the Bill of Rights--Security Edition.)

Yea, and I have to say, it's a pretty stupid idea (especially if you don't want your little trinkets to go right in the trash can). It's like telling Employee-of-the-Month Carmelita Sanchez that the Big Macs are bad for you.
posted by Witty at 6:53 AM on April 21, 2005

Justice Hugo L. Black always carried a pocket size copy of the Constitution.
posted by mlis at 7:55 AM on April 21, 2005

Wow, I am selfish - I don't give away my security edition BoR. I like to get more mileage out of my resistance statements and reuse them.

And actually anything confiscated is just as likely auctioned off as destroyed, but it's not going to be -given- away in any case.

Airports have various ways of getting rid of items taken from passengers. Washington Reagan National Airport sends them to a metal grinder before they're melted down, while several California airports - including San Jose Mineta International Airport and Oakland International Airport - offer them on the eBay online auction site, Turmail said.
posted by phearlez at 9:46 AM on April 21, 2005

I think you should give 100 members of Congress a copy. Seems like they could use a refresher.
posted by knave at 11:23 AM on April 21, 2005