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Fascinating Facts About The Constitution
The U.S. Constitution has 4,400 words. It is the oldest and the shortest written constitution of any government in the world.
Of the typographical errors in the Constitution, the misspelling of the word "Pennsylvania" above the signers' names is probably the most glaring.
Thomas Jefferson did not sign the Constitution. He was in France during the convention, where he served as the U.S. minister.
Jacob Shallus, a Pennsylvania General Assembly clerk, "penned" the Constitution for a fee of $30 ($261.45 today). Governor Morris was responsible for the wording of the Constitution. It was stored in various cities until 1952, when it was placed in the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. During the daytime, pages one and four of the document are displayed in a bullet-proof case. The case contains helium and water vapor to preserve the paper's quality. At night, the pages are lowered into a vault, behind five-ton doors that are designed to withstand a nuclear explosion. The entire Constitution is displayed only one day a year, September 17, the anniversary of the day the framers signed the document.
Thirty-nine men signed the Constitution.
James Madison, "the father of the Constitution," was the first to arrive in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention. He arrived in February, three months before the convention began, bearing the blueprint for the new Constitution.
At least seven constitutional amendments were passed in order to reverse a Supreme Court decision. Some of the notable ones: The Thirteenth Amendment (1865), barring slavery, and the Fifteenth Amendment (1868), protecting the citizenship of African Americans, effectively overturned the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision of 1857. The Sixteenth Amendment (1913) gave Congress the power to levy an income tax, thereby overturning Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Co. (1895). And the Twenty-Sixth Amendment (1971) overturned Oregon v. Mitchell (1970) which, among other things, held that Congress could not regulate the voting age in state elections. The amendment set the voting age at 18 years.
When it came time for the states to ratify the Constitution, the lack of any bill of rights was the primary sticking point.
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.
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."
Patrick Henry was elected as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, but declined, because he "smelt a rat."
Because of his poor health, Benjamin Franklin needed help to sign the Constitution. As he did so, tears streamed down his face.
The oldest person to sign the Constitution was Benjamin Franklin (81). The youngest was Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey (26).
When the Constitution was signed, the United States population was 4 million. It is now more than 250 million. Philadelphia was the nation's largest city, with 40,000 inhabitants.
The first state to ratify the Constitution was Delaware, in December, 1787, three months after the framers had adjourned the convention in Philadelphia. When New Hampshire ratified on June 21, 1788, it was the ninth state to do so. By the ratification requirements set forth in Article VII, the Constitution was now officially established.
Until the Seventeenth Amendment was ratified in 1913, Senators were chosen by a state's legislators. As a result, the Senate brimmed with men who obtained their positions through political patronage. Finally, under threat of a Constitutional Convention on the matter, Congress proposed this amendment.
The 14th and 15th Amendments were passed in 1868 and 1870, respectively. Initially meant to preserve personal freedoms of African Americans, they now stand, in large part, for the idea that the Constitution implies, but does not enumerate, certain fundamental rights for all citizens.
To amend the Constitution, a proposal must gain the support of two-thirds of the House and Senate, and three-fourths of the states. As a result, of the thousands of proposed amendments, only 27 have passed. Amendments must be proposed either by a two-thirds vote in Congress, or by a Constitutional Convention. Such a convention can only be held if two-thirds of the states' legislatures support it.
Questions and Answers Pertaining to the U.S. Constitution
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The U. S. Constitution
