Our Constitution embodied a UNIQUE IDEA. Nothing like it has ever been done before. The power of
the idea was in the recognition that people's rights are granted directly by the Creator - not by the state - andthat the people,then and only then, grant rights to government.
When the Constitution was written, English spellings had not yet been standardized. As a result, the document contains peculiar spellings that look odd today but were acceptable at the time such as defence
or labour and chuse for choose. Above the signers' names, the word "Pensylvania" is missing an "n'.
America's founders believed that a government made up of imperfect people exercising power over
other people should possess limited powers. They delegated to government only those rights they
wanted it to have. Many problems we face today result from a departure from this basic concept.
The delegates were involved in debates from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. six days a week with only a 10
day break during the duration of the convention. After three hot summer months our Founding Fathers created a representative republic. The word democracy never appears in the U.S. Constitution.
When theConstitution was signed in 1787, there were 4 Million people in theUnited States. When
Henry Ford built this 1928 Model A Ford there were over 120 Million people in the United States.
Today there are over 330 Million people in the United States.
Massachusetts delegate Elbridge Gerry proposed standing armies in time of peace be limited to no more than 3000 troops. George Washington sarcastically agreed with this proposal as long as a stipulation
was added to the Constitution that no invading army could number more than 5000 troops.
Early generations of Americans pledged their lives to the cause of individual freedom and limited government and warned, over and over again, that eternal vigilance would be required to preserve that freedom for posterity.
Over the past two centuries, more than 11,600 amendments to the Constitution have been proposed. Of those, only 33 have been sent to the states for ratification. Of those, only 27 have been approved.
A proclamation by President George Washington and a congressional resolution established the first national Thanksgiving Day on November 26, 1789. The reason for the holiday was to give "thanks" to
God for the new Constitution.
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.
If 39 delegates signed the Constitution, why does the Constitution have 40 signatures? William Jackson served as the official Secretary to the 1787 Constitutional Convention and considered it part of his duties to add his signature to the bottom left of the United States Constitution. Since he was not a delegate
from a particular state, historians don't regard him as an official signer of the document. He is often referred to as the "40th signer.
The first time the formal term" The United States of America" was used was in th e Declaration of Independence. (There are differing sources claiming this isn't accurate.)
Rhode Island did not send any delegates to theConstitutional Convention. Often referred to as "RogueIsland" for its opposition to measures in the Second Continental Congress.
The oldest person to sign the Constitution was Benjamin Franklin (81). The youngest was Jonathan Dayton of NewJersey (26).
It took one hundred days to actually "frame" the Constitution.
Constitution Day is celebrated on September 17, the anniversary of the day the framers signed the document.
Provided by Jack Currier • Original source unknown
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