Some of the most unwavering champions of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights have habitually carried printed copies of the nation's law of the land in their pockets or purses, as the case may be. Among them are individuals ranging from eminent past legislators such as African American former Rep. Barbara Jordan from Texas and former Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut — the latter once saying that his staff teased him for always walking around with one in his pocket — to jurists such as former Supreme Court Justices Hugo Black and Robert Davis Glass, the latter the Connecticut Supreme Court's first black justice, who said in an interview, "I've worn out several copies" — to avid defenders of civil rights such as the late Peter Jennings, anchor of ABC's "World News Tonight."

With varying levels of theatricality, some have pulled out pocket-sized copies of the Constitution and shaken them in the air for visual impact. Former Sen. Sam Ervin of North Carolina did it in a hearing of the Senate Watergate Committee. In 1995, during a debate on the subject of the line-item veto, then-Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia raised his dog-eared copy as he denounced some of his colleagues' support for such provision as an act of "collective madness." With much foresight, he cautioned against its potential abuse by some future "power-hungry president."

More recently, Gold Star father Khizr Khan raised his copy of the Constitution during his speech at the 2016 National Democratic Convention. "Have you even read the United States Constitution?" Khan asked America's most notorious power-hungry bibliophobe. "I will gladly lend you my copy."

While miniature books are almost as old as printed books themselves — one of Johann Gutenberg's assistants is credited with bounding one in 1468 — I have not found mention of a miniature or pocket U.S. Constitution printed during the lifetimes of any of its signers. Earlier today, however, I did find a pocket first edition (1791) of the French Constitution for sale on eBay for a little over $500.

George Washington had a specially bound 1789 regular-size personal copy of the U.S. Constitution. The Mount Vernon Library bought it at a Christie's auction in 2012 for a record-shattering $9.8 million.

Khan's famous pocket copy became a piece of American political history in its own right; it is now housed 95 miles south of Washington among the holdings of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture. One of its pages bears the handwritten signature of former President Barack Obama.

In 1865, the year of Lincoln's second presidential inauguration and assassination, Taggard & Thompson published a miniature edition of the Constitution that also included the Declaration of Independence, George Washington's Farewell Address and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, along with portraits of the first and 16th presidents.

In the aftermath of World War I, several U.S. publishers included miniature copies of the U.S. Constitution among their tiny-book offerings, which were sold for pennies at Woolworth and other stores. But the mass printing of pocket Constitutions would only come a century later following the resolution of Rep. Wayne Hays of Ohio calling for the printing of thousands of pocket-sized copies by the Government Publishing Office.

Since its dramatic display at the 2016 Democratic National Convention and throughout Trump's presidency, sales of pocket Constitutions have skyrocketed. The item became an Amazon bestseller days after said convention.

The pocket Constitution's soaring popularity extends far beyond Democrats and civil rights advocates. Purchases among conservatives grew after the founding of the tea party in 2009 and have increased because many conservatives invoke it in support of causes such as the protection of the Second Amendment, the so-called American lands movement, and opposition to the separation of church and state and what they claim to be excessive government intervention in people's lives.

Some radical conservatives such as Utah Sen. Michael Lee carry and display apocryphal versions annotated with the words of W. Cleon Skousen, whom even notorious Red Scare-era Rep. Joseph McCarthy deemed too extreme.

With so many millions of pocket Constitutions in circulation, and thousands bulging and popping in and out of politicians' pockets, one would expect that Americans would have at least some familiarity with the nation's constitutional foundations. But survey after survey continue to document the general population's ignorance about the document's contents. The Annenberg Public Policy Center's latest poll on the subject showed that only half of Americans can name the three branches of government.

Carrying one inside one's pocket is a highly symbolic action, but unless we read and follow the Constitution, democracy remains at risk.

Readers can reach Luis Martinez-Fernandez at LMF_Column@yahoo.com. To find out more about Luis Martinez-Fernandez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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