How Many Words Are In The Constitution

The U.Due south. Constitution has iv,400 words. It is the oldest and shortest written Constitution of whatsoever major government in the world.

Of the spelling errors in the Constitution, "Pensylvania" 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.Southward. minister. John Adams was serving equally the U.Southward. minister to United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland during the Constitutional Convention and did not attend either.

The Constitution was "penned" by Jacob Shallus, A Pennsylvania Full general Associates clerk, for $30 ($830 today).

Since 1952, the Constitution has been on brandish in the National Athenaeum Edifice in Washington, DC. Currently, all four pages are displayed backside 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.

Constitution Day is celebrated on September 17, the anniversary of the mean solar day the framers signed the document.

The Constitution does not ready along requirements for the right to vote. As a outcome, at the start of the Union, merely male holding-owners could vote. African Americans were non considered citizens, and women were excluded from the electoral process. Native Americans were not given the right to vote until 1924.

James Madison, "the father of the Constitution," was one of the starting time to arrive in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention. He arrived in early May, bearing the blueprint for the new Constitution.

Of the forty-ii delegates who attended most of the meetings, thirty-nine actually signed the Constitution. Edmund Randolph and George Bricklayer of Virginia and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts refused to sign due in part due to the lack of a pecker of rights.

When it came time for united states of america to ratify the Constitution, the lack of any bill of rights was the main sticking point.

The Peachy Compromise saved the Constitutional Convention, and, probably, the Spousal relationship. Authored past Connecticut delegate Roger Sherman, it called for proportional representation in the House, and one representative per state in the Senate (this was later inverse to two.) The compromise passed five-to-4, with i state, Massachusetts, "divided."

When it was ratified in 1787, the Constitution enshrined the institution of slavery through the so-called "Three-Fifths Compromise," which called for those "spring to service for a term of years" and "all other Persons" (meaning slaves) to exist counted for representation purposes as iii-fifths of free people. The give-and-take "slavery," however, did not appear in the Constitution until the 1865 ratification of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United states.

Patrick Henry was elected as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, but declined, considering 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 up.

Gouverneur Morris was largely responsible for the "wording" of the Constitution, although there was a Commission of Style formed in September 1787.

The oldest person to sign the Constitution was Benjamin Franklin (81). The youngest was Jonathan Dayton of New Bailiwick of jersey (26).

When the Constitution was signed, the Us population was four million. It is now more than than 327 million. Philadelphia was the nation's largest city, with 40,000 inhabitants.

A annunciation past President George Washington and a congressional resolution established the starting time national Thanksgiving Twenty-four hour period on November 26, 1789. The reason for the holiday was to requite "thanks" for the new Constitution.

The first fourth dimension the formal term "The U.s. of America" was used was in the Announcement of Independence.

It took one hundred days to really "frame" the Constitution.

In that location was initially a question equally to how to address the President. The Senate proposed that he be addressed equally "His Highness the President of the Usa of America and Protector of their Liberties." Both the House of Representatives and the Senate compromised on the utilise of "President of the United States."

James Wilson originally proposed the President be called by popular vote, but the delegates agreed (afterward threescore ballots) on a system known as the Electoral College. Although there have been 500 proposed amendments to change it, this "indirect" system of electing the president is still intact.

George Washington and James Madison were the simply presidents who signed the Constitution.

In November of 1788 the Congress of the Confederation adjourned and left the United States without a fundamental regime until April 1789. That is when the first Congress under the new Constitution convened with its first quorum.

James Madison was the only consul to attend every meeting. He took detailed notes of the diverse discussions and debates that took place during the convention. The journal that he kept during the Constitutional Convention was kept hush-hush until afterward he died. It (along with other papers) was purchased by the government in 1837 at a price of $30,000 (that would be $695,000 today). The journal was published in 1840.

Although Benjamin Franklin'south mind remained active, his body was deteriorating. He was in constant pain because of gout and having a stone in his bladder, and he could barely walk. He would enter the convention hall in a sedan chair carried by four prisoners from the Walnut Street jail in Philadelphia.

Every bit Benjamin Franklin left the Pennsylvania Country House after the final meeting of the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787, he was approached by the wife of the mayor of Philadelphia. She was curious as to what the new government would exist. Franklin replied, "A republic, madam. If y'all can continue information technology."

On March 24, 1788, a popular election was held in Rhode Isle to determine the ratification status of the new Constitution. The vote was 237 in favor and 2,945 opposed!

The members of the kickoff Congress of the United States included 54 who were delegates to the Constitutional Convention or delegates to the diverse state-ratifying conventions. The number also included 7 delegates who opposed ratification.

Benjamin Franklin died on April 17, 1790, at the age of 84. The twenty,000 mourners at his funeral on April 21, 1790, constituted the largest public gathering upwards to that time.

Vermont ratified the Constitution on January 10, 1791, even though it had not yet get a state.

The give-and-take "democracy" does not appear once in the Constitution.

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 this proposal as long every bit a stipulation was added that no invading ground forces could number more than 3,000 troops!

John Adams referred to the Constitution every bit "the greatest single effort of national deliberation that the globe has e'er seen" and George Washington wrote to the Marquis de Lafayette that "It (the Constitution) appears to me, then, piddling brusk of a phenomenon."

The Pennsylvania State House (where the Constitutional Convention took place) was where George Washington was appointed the commander of the Continental Army in 1775 and where the Proclamation of Independence was signed in 1776. It was as well where the Articles of Confederation were adopted as our starting time constitution in 1781.

Rhode Island was the but state non to send delegates to Philadelphia in 1787. At that time the country legislature was controlled by the agrestal party and was fearful that a stronger central government would demand that debts be paid in specie (hard coin). It was the last state to ratify the Constitution on May 29, 1790 (over a yr after President George Washington's inauguration) past a vote of 34-32.

The delegates were involved in debates from ten a.thou. until 3 p.m. six days a week with merely a 10 twenty-four hour period break during the duration of the convention

The Constitution contains 4,543 words, including the signatures and has four sheets, 28-3/iv inches by 23-5/8 inches each. It contains 7,591 words including the 27 amendments.

The Constitution was ratified by peculiarly elected conventions beginning in December 1787. The gild in which the 13 states accustomed the new constitution was Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Bailiwick of jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, Northward Carolina and Rhode Island.

Daniel Webster (1782-1852), of Massachusetts, has been called the "Expounder of the Constitution".

From 1804 to 1865 there were no amendments added to the Constitution until the end of the Civil War when the Thirteenth subpoena was added that abolished slavery. This was the longest menstruum in American history in which there were no changes to our Constitution.

The text of the Constitution was printed by John Dunlap and David Claypoole in Philadelphia to then be sent to the various country constitutional conventions for debate and discussion.

As evidence of its continued flexibility, the Constitution has simply been changed seventeen times since 1791!

The main reason for the coming together in Philadelphia was to revise the Manufactures of Confederation. All the same, the delegates presently concluded that it would be necessary to write an entirely new Constitution. They agreed to deport the meetings in secrecy by stationing guards at the door to the Pennsylvania land house. When one delegate dropped a convention document, Chairman George Washington replied, "I must entreat the gentlemen to be more careful, lest our transactions get into the newspapers and disturb the public repose."

At the fourth dimension of the Constitutional Convention Philadelphia was the most modern city in America and the largest urban center in North America. It had a population of xl,000 people, vii,000 street lamps, 33 churches, 10 newspapers, and a university.

The median age in America by the end of the 18th century was 16 years of age (today it is around 34 years of historic period), 19 of every xx citizens lived on the land, and 70% of the land was worked by its owners (30% by tenants).

The national government spent $4.3 1000000 during the first session of Congress from 1789-1791. During the last year that George Washington was President of the Usa (1796-1797), the entire cost of running the federal government was $5,727,000.

The election of George Washington as the first President nether the Constitution was non really "unanimous". In actuality, two electors from Virginia and two electors from Maryland did non vote. New York was entitled to eight electoral votes only the state legislature could not decide how these electors would be called, then the state of New York officially did not vote for the President. The electoral vote in 1789 should accept totaled 81 but just 69 votes were cast.

James Madison of Virginia was responsible for proposing the resolution to create the various Chiffonier positions inside the Executive Branch of our regime and twelve amendments to the Constitution of which ten became the Pecker of Rights.

Although the United States Treasury Department stopped distributing currency denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 in 1969, for all intents and purposes the production of each stopped later on World War II. However, these notes are still legal tender and may be found on rare occasions in circulation. James Madison, the "Father of the Constitution" is on the $v,000 bill.

At the decision of the Ramble Convention, Benjamin Franklin observed the symbol of a half-dominicus on George Washington's chair and remarked, "I accept the happiness to know that information technology is a ascent and not a setting lord's day."

Benjamin Franklin fabricated a suggestion at the Constitutional Convention that the sessions be opened with a prayer. The delegates refused to accept the motion stating that there was non enough money to rent a clergyman.

Of the l-v delegates who attended the convention 34 were lawyers, viii had signed the Declaration of Independence, and nearly half were Revolutionary War veterans. The remaining members were planters, educators, ministers, physicians, financiers, judges and merchants. About a quarter of them were large land owners and all of them held some type of public office (39 were former Congressmen and 8 were present or past governors).

William Few of Georgia was the only member to stand for the yeoman farmer class which comprised the majority of the population of the country. Xix of the members who were chosen to represent their state never attended a coming together.

Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania was known as the "Sage of the Constitutional Convention." He was also the mediator at the convention and often counseled that "we are hither to consult, non to contend".

George Washington and James Madison were the only Presidents who signed the Constitution.

Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts was opposed to the office of vice president. "The close intimacy that must subsist between the President and Vice President makes information technology absolutely improper." However, he put his feelings aside and became Vice President nether James Madison!

When Paul Revere learned that Sam Adams and John Hancock were reluctant to offer their back up for the Constitution during the ratification fight, he organized the Boston mechanics into a powerful strength and worked behind the scenes for the successful approval past the Massachusetts convention.

The just other language used in various parts of the Constitution is Latin.

Four of the signers of the Constitution were born in Ireland.

John Tyler was the first Vice President to assume the responsibilities of the Presidency upon the death of William Henry Harrison in 1841. There was nothing in the Constitution that provided for the vice president to BECOME the president. Commodity 2, Department half-dozen of the Constitution states that: "In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his expiry, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said role, the same shall devolve on the Vice President..." The Article did not land that the vice president would BECOME the President! Tyler immediately began to refer to himself as the President with no bodily Constitutional authority to do so, and every succeeding vice president in the same position did the same. It was non until the Twenty-Fifth Subpoena was passed in 1967 that the vice president technically BECAME the president. This subpoena legitimatized Tyler'southward unconstitutional assumption!

During an event to celebrate the Constitution's Sesquicentennial in 1937, Harry F. Wilhelm recited the entire document through the newly added 21st Amendment from memory. He then obtained a job in the Sesquicentennial mailroom!

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