Today is one of those days that never gets enough recognition — it’s Constitution Day. I’m pretty sure our Constitution has never received the criticism it’s receiving today — from several directions. So let’s take a few minutes to talk about it. It’s hard to imagine what our lives would be like without it.
The U.S. Constitution was signed 235 years ago today — on September 17, 1787, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met for the last time to sign the document they had created. The original document was four pages long and thirty-nine men signed it — including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton.
The Constitution includes seven articles that outline the powers of Congress, the President and Executive Branch, the Judicial Branch, the relationship between the states, the process of adding amendments and the oath that representatives must pledge to it.
My extensive research about the Constitution revealed some interesting things, like….
The main reason for the meeting in Philadelphia was to revise the Articles of Confederation. However, the delegates soon concluded that it would be necessary to write an entirely new Constitution. They agreed to conduct the meetings in secrecy by stationing guards at the door of the Pennsylvania state house.
At the time of the Constitutional Convention Philadelphia was the most modern city in America and the largest city in North America. It had a population of 40,000 people, 7,000 street lamps, 33 churches, 10 newspapers, and a university.
The national government spent $4.3 million during the first session of Congress from 1789-1791. During the last year that George Washington was President of the United States (1796-1797,) the entire cost of running the federal government was $5,727,000.
The Great Compromise saved the Constitutional Convention — and — probably, the Union. Authored by Connecticut delegate Roger Sherman, it called for proportional representation in the House, and one representative per state in the Senate (this was later changed to two.) The compromise passed 5 to 4, with one state, Massachusetts, “divided.”
The Constitution does not set forth requirements for the right to vote. As a result, at the outset of the Union, only male property-owners could vote. African Americans were not considered citizens, and women were excluded from the electoral process. Native Americans were not given the right to vote until 1924.
The word “slavery” did not appear in the Constitution until the 1865 ratification of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States.
The U.S Constitution has 4,400 words. It is the oldest and shortest written Constitution of any major government in the world.
There are some spelling errors in the Constitution, “Pensylvania” above the signers’ names is the most glaring.
The Constitution was “penned” by Jacob Shallus, a Pennsylvania General Assembly clerk — he was paid $30 (that would be $952, today.)
Since 1952, the Constitution has been on display in the National Archives Building in Washington. Currently, all four pages are displayed behind protective glass framed with titanium. To preserve the parchment’s quality, the cases contain argon gas and are kept at 67 degrees Fahrenheit with a relative humidity of 40 percent.
Of the forty-two delegates who attended most of the meetings, thirty-nine actually signed the Constitution. Edmund Randolph and George Mason of Virginia and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts refused to sign due in part to the lack of a bill of rights. (When it came time for the states to ratify the Constitution, the lack of any bill of rights was the primary sticking point.)
The word “democracy” does not appear once in the Constitution.
The only other language used in various parts of the Constitution is Latin.
Four of the signers of the Constitution were born in Ireland.
There was a proposal at the Constitutional convention to limit the standing army for the country to 5,000 men. George Washington sarcastically agreed with the proposal as long as a stipulation was added that no invading army could number more than 3.000 troops.
At the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin observed the symbol of a half-sun on George Washington’s chair and remarked, “I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.”
On February 29,1952, Congress designated September 17 as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. The day commemorates the signing of the U.S. Constitution and recognizes all American Citizens.
An important day indeed — the Constitution may not be perfect, but it’s the best one in the world and we must defend it from all enemies…. foreign and domestic.
— 30 —