Constitution Day 2016

We the people of Union Institute & University are celebrating Constitution Day 2016! September 17, 2016, will mark the 229^th anniversary of our nation’s founding document. It was signed on September 17, 1787, at the Philadelphia Convention by 39 delegates.

Here are some interesting facts about the US Constitution:

• The Constitution has 4,543 words, including the signatures. It takes about 30 minutes to read.
• The Constitution was drafted in fewer than 100 working days.
• Each of the four parchment sheets of the Constitution measures 28 3/4 inches by 23 5/8 inches.
• George Washington was chosen unanimously to preside over the Constitutional Convention.
• Madison kept a journal during the Constitutional Convention. Congress appropriated $30,000 to buy it (and other papers) in 1837.
• Those who favored ratifying the Constitution were called Federalists; those who opposed were Antifederalists.
• Two of the 12 amendments submitted as the Bill of Rights were rejected.
• There is no mention of education in the Constitution; education is reserved for the states.
• These cities have been U.S. capitals: Philadelphia, Baltimore, Lancaster, York, Princeton, Annapolis, Trenton, New York, and finally Washington, DC.
• The book that had the greatest influence on the Constitutional Convention was Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws, which first appeared in 1748.
• Montesquieu borrowed much of his doctrine from Englishman John Locke, with whose writings the delegates were also familiar.
• The Chief Justice is mentioned in the Constitution, but the number of Justices is not specified.
• For 61 years, from 1804 to 1865 (between the 12th and the 13th Amendments), no amendments were added to the Constitution.
• Only one amendment to the Constitution has been repealed: the 18th (Prohibition).
• How do you repeal an amendment? Add another amendment. The 18th Amendment remains in the Constitution, but with a notation that it has been repealed by the 21st.
• Only 39 delegates signed the Constitution. Fourteen had already gone home. Three refused.
• The Constitution does not give us our rights and liberties, but it does guarantee them.

Learn more about the US Constitution, read a transcript, and view images of the original document.