the us constitution facts
The US Constitution Facts
Do you know the term 'democracy' is not mentioned even once in the Constitution of America? Here are some more of the US Constitution facts.
We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. - Preamble of the US Constitution
The United States of America is one of the oldest democracies in the world. Its Constitution was written in the 18th century. It has been used as a role model for many of the countries around the world. The Supreme Court frequently interprets it according to needs of the ever-changing social, political, and economic conditions of the United States. However, the basic doctrine remains untouched and unchallenged since its inception. Some of the US Constitution facts are given below.
Interesting Facts
- James Madison is considered to be the Father of the US Constitution. However, there were around 55 people, including Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, who helped Madison with the task of authoring and compiling. These people were known as the Founding Fathers of the US Constitution.
- The Constitution was written in Pennsylvania State House, now known as the Independence Hall. Initially, the United States consisted of only 13 state, out of which only 12 states participated in the writing. The Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787. In 1788, it was ratified by nine of the thirteen states. In 1790, Rhode Island was the last state to ratify the document.
- The total word count is 4,440 and it is the shortest constitution of any country in the world.
- Pennsylvania was misspelt as Pensylvania and it is one of the typographical errors in the documents.
- Do you know the youngest person to sign was only 26 years of age and the oldest was 81years old? They were Jonathan Dayton and Benjamin Franklin respectively.
- Though Thomas Jefferson was instrumental in drafting the Declaration of Independence, he could not sign, because he was in France serving as the US minister to France. John Adams, who later became the second President of the United States, also could not sign, because he was serving as the US minister to Great Britain.
- Do you know that it took 100 days to frame the Constitution? At the time of the Convention, the population of America was only four million, and currently it is more than three hundred and seventy million.
- The structure of the American Constitution has an introduction called the Preamble. The contents are divided into seven parts known as the Articles. The first Article gives power to the House of Representative and the Senate to make and introduce laws. The President of the US is given the executive powers and this is mentioned in the second Article. The Supreme Court of the US is the final court of appeal according to the rights listed in the third Article.
- The list of rights was added in 1791, and the first ten amendments are known as the The Bill of Rights. As of today, more than eleven thousand amendments have been introduced in the House of Representatives. Around thirty-three were sent to the states for ratification and twenty-seven were approved by the states to be considered as the amendments.
- You would be surprised to know that the Constitution of America did not give women the right to vote until 1920. According to it, only men were allowed to cast the vote. Initially, the African Americans were not considered as the American citizens, hence they were denied the right to vote and the Native Americans were given the rights only in 1924.