The Oldest of them All, by Moranda Zimmer

            In class we had a discussion about the United States Constitution, as well as others around the world.  It caught my attention that the United States has the oldest constitution, with Norway and Belgium closely behind.  In different classes throughout high school and undergrad we learn varies things about the constitution, but a lot of interesting facts of it are left out.  I wanted to find all the facts about the United States constitution and learn more about it. 

            The United States Constitution has 4,400 words in it, and is the oldest but shortest written Constitution of any major government in the world.  September 17 of each year is a day marked as the anniversary of the day that the framers signed the document.  This day is different from the Fourth of July, because that is the day our country became a country, and this day is to remember the day that our constitution was officially signed.  The oldest person to sign the constitution was Benjamin Franklin at the age of 81, and the youngest was Jonathon Dayton at the age of 26.  Because of Benjamin Franklin’s poor health, he needed help signing the Constitution, and when he signed it he had tears rolling down his face. One specific fact I found extremely interesting was that Thomas Jefferson did not sign the constitution as he was out the States serving as the U.S. Minister when this took place.  Also, the only two presidents that signed the constitution were George Washington and James Madison. 

            There were 55 representatives who attended the convention.  Of these individuals 34 of them were lawyers, eight of them had signed the Declaration of Independence, and about half of them were Revolutionary War veterans.  The rest of them ranged anywhere from farmers, educators, ministers, judges, doctors, and financiers.  Some of them, about one/fourth owned a large amount of land, but all of them held some sort of public office, such as being a Congressman or a governor. 

Other interesting fact about the constitution is what our country was like at the time of the signing.  The United States had a population of 4 million, and Philadelphia was the largest city at the time with a population of 40,000.  Our nation now has more than 300 million people in it.  When Benjamin Franklin died at the age of 84, his funeral set the record for the largest public gathering up to that time. 

            All these facts combined, as well as many others, make up how our constitution was formed, and what it is today. It’s what our country run off of, and the small details behind it are so important to the overall picture.  It was really interesting learning more about what’s behind the constitution that often gets by passed.      

 Works Cited:

http://www.constitutionfacts.com/us-constitution-amendments/fascinating-facts/