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It’s the oldest in the world -

Written in 1787 and ratified in 1788, the US has the oldest written national framework of government in the world. For context, at the end of the 1900s there were about 159 other national constitutions in the world.

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It’s also the shortest -

The original US Constitution is also the shortest written Constitution of any major government in the world, at just 4,400 words.

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But it’s one of the most persistent -

While the US has followed a single framework of government for over two centuries, a country like France, for example, has had 10 distinct constitutional orders (including five republics, two empires, a monarchy, and two dictatorships). As another example, El Salvador has had 36 constitutions since 1824.

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It wasn’t expected to last -

At the end of the Constitutional Convention, George Washington reportedly said, "I do not expect the Constitution to last for more than 20 years."

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It was prepared in secret -

The US Constitution was kept a secret during its development phase, drafted behind locked doors that were guarded by sentries. The main and publicized reason for the meeting in Philadelphia was to revise the Articles of Confederation, but the delegates soon concluded that they needed an entirely new Constitution.

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It was only signed by men -

In the summer of 1787, 55 white men met in Philadelphia to create the framework of the entire country’s government. Of the 55 delegates attending the Constitutional Convention, 39 actually signed and three dissented.

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Some men didn’t bother showing up -

Of the 55 delegates, it’s reported that only 42 attended most of the meetings—not even all of the meetings! James Madison was the only delegate to attend every meeting, and his journal of detailed notes was kept secret until after he died. It was purchased by the government in 1837 at a price of US$30,000 (around $700,000 today) and published in 1840.

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Not all Founding Fathers signed -

Two of the Founding Fathers didn’t sign the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson was serving as US minister in France, and John Adams was doing the same in Great Britain.

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The oldest -

The oldest of the men who signed the Constitution was Benjamin Franklin, who was 81. Because of his poor health, including gout and a stone in his bladder, he needed help to sign the Constitution. As he did so, it’s said tears streamed down his face.

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The youngest -

The youngest of the men who signed the Constitution was Jonathan Dayton, a Founding Father and politician from the US state of New Jersey, who was 26.

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Women didn’t have power at the time -

Women couldn’t go to college, they couldn’t vote or hold office (no matter how wealthy they were), and when they were married they didn’t have legal autonomy, leaving them with near total dependency on their husbands—something the law called coverture. Only the 19th Amendment in 1920 granted white women at large the right to vote, and black women got the right through the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

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Black people were still enslaved -

During the development of one of the most critical and persistent documents in US history, black people were still being denied basic human rights and were not even considered citizens. The 13th Amendment abolishing slavery would only come in 1865, 78 years after the Constitution was signed. The 15th Amendment later opened a path for black men to vote in 1870, but had still excluded black women.

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The “Three-Fifths Compromise” -

When the Constitution was ratified, it solidified the institution of slavery through the so-called "Three-Fifths Compromise," which called for those "bound to service for a term of years" and "all other Persons" (meaning slaves) to be counted for representation purposes as just three-fifths of free people.

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The Constitution was very trendy -

The essential organization of US constitutionalism—the separation of powers in bicameral legislature, a presidency, and the bill of rights—were later followed by many nations. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 created a governmental framework that served as a model for freedom-loving people around the world.

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The Bill of Rights came after -

Some original delegates (including the three who dissented) and delegates in the state ratifying conventions raised concerns that the original Constitution lacked a description of individual rights. In 1791, a list of personal freedoms and rights—as well as limitations on the government’s power in judicial proceedings, and declarations that all powers not delegated to Congress are reserved for the states or the people—were added to the Constitution. The first 10 amendments became known as the Bill of Rights.

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Where Thanksgiving originated -

The first national “Thanksgiving Day” was established on November 26, 1789 by George Washington as a way of “giving thanks” for the Constitution, the National Constitution Center reports. The holiday has since been stained, however, with the recognition of the simultaneous and horrific treatment of Native Americans during the creation of the nation. For example, Native Americans were not given the right to vote until 1924.

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Many proposed amendments -

More than 11,000 amendments have reportedly been introduced in Congress, but only 33 have gone to the states to be ratified. Of those, 27 have received the necessary approval from the states to actually become amendments to the Constitution. With the amendments, the word count stands at 7,591.

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There was a spelling error -

For one of the most important documents in history, they didn’t even have a proper proofreader! Of the spelling errors in the Constitution, "Pensylvania" above the signers' names is probably the funniest.

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The price -

The Constitution was penned onto paper by Jacob Shallus, a Pennsylvania General Assembly clerk, for a reported US$30 ($830 today). Benjamin Franklin also apparently wanted the Constitutional Convention sessions to be opened with a prayer, but delegates refused on the basis that there wasn’t enough money to hire a chaplain.

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Population -

When the Constitution was signed, the population of the US was four million. It is now more than 329 million!

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Philadelphia was hot -

At the time, Philadelphia was the nation's largest and most modern city, with 40,000 inhabitants, 7,000 street lamps, 33 churches, 10 newspapers, and a university.

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The pre-edited version of the president -

Initially, the Senate proposed that the president be addressed as "His Highness the President of the United States of America and Protector of their Liberties." Since there was a rejection of monarchy amongst the people, both the House of Representatives and the Senate compromised on the use of "President of the United States."

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The persistence of electoral colleges -

James Wilson originally proposed that the president be chosen by popular vote, but the delegates agreed instead on a system known as the Electoral College, which combined two main proposals: the popular election of the president, and the election of the president by Congress. Although there have been 500 proposed amendments to change it, this system of electing the president remains largely intact.

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George Washington's so-called “unanimous” election -

The election of George Washington as the first president under the Constitution was not as "unanimous" as history remembers. In reality, two electors from Virginia and two from Maryland did not vote. New York was entitled to eight electoral votes, but the state legislature couldn’t decide how the electors would be chosen, so the state officially did not vote. Thus, the electoral vote in 1789 should have totaled 81, but only 69 votes were cast.

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A missing term -

Funnily enough, the word "democracy" does not appear once in the Constitution.

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The convention schedule -

The delegates were reportedly involved in debates from 10 am until 3 pm six days a week, with only a 10-day break during the duration of the convention from mid-May to mid-September.

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The resumes of the 55 delegates -

Of the 55 delegates who attended the convention, 34 were lawyers, eight had signed the Declaration of Independence, and almost half were Revolutionary War veterans. Members included planters, educators, ministers, physicians, financiers, judges, and merchants, but all of them held some type of public office (39 were former Congressmen and eight were present or past governors).

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The unconstitutional vice presidents -

John Tyler was the first vice president to assume the responsibilities of the presidency when William Henry Harrison died in 1841, but the move was actually against the Constitution. Article II, Section 6 stated that: "In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President..."

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The unconstitutional vice presidents -

Yet Tyler and subsequent vice presidents (Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry S. Truman, and Lyndon B. Johnson) in the same position did so without any authority until the 25th Amendment was passed in 1967, which legitimized the previous unconstitutional assumption.

Sources: (Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History) (National Constitution Center) (Constitution Facts) (Britannica)

See also: Historical documents that changed the world

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