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/

Nine Justices of the US Supreme Court, by Anonymous

            We briefly talked about the Justices of the US Supreme Court, and I think its crazy how important they are to our government system so I wanted to go further into learning about each one in office today.  I want to know about their history, and what their back round is that got them to where they are today.  The basic knowledge behind the justices is that the present nominated them, and they have to be approved by the Senate.  Once they are approved they have a lifetime appointment, unless they decide to step down, or in very rare cases get booted.  However, looking at the big picture there is so much more about each one individually.

            The Chief Justice of the United States is John G. Roberts.  He was born in New York, and has a wife, and a family of two children.  He got his A.B. from Harvard College and also is law degree from Harvard Law School.  He has a long history in the government system serving from a law clerk, to a special assistant attorney general, as well as an associate counsel member to President Reagan.  He was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals in 2003, and was nominated by President G W  Bush as Chief Justice in 2005.

All of the Justices, except Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagen, and David Souter are married and have children.  Antonin Scalia has the most children at the number of nine.  The majority of the justices went to high-end schools for their undergrad, and almost all received their law degree the most top competitive schools in the country.  They all worked their way up in the system of the government holding some of the best positions in the government system.  This chart shows the basic information about each current Justice.

The duties of the Supreme Court Justices that are stated in the constitution are to check, and keep in check, the action of the President and Congress.  They also have the power to overturn any case that violates the constitution, and has the final say in all cases involved laws of Congress.  The justices do have a lot of power, however, the other two branches of government limit it.  The Court has nearly 5,000 requests of cases to be reviewed for hearing each year, but only generally gets to about 150 of them.  Each justice plays a key role in keeping out government in line.  The roles of these nine justices are a big part of our government system, and without them our balance between state and government could be corrupt. 

Works Cited:

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/role-supreme-court

http://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx

            

CONSTUTITION, by CHANCE NKUNDIMANA

              Today the image of the earth is not the same as when it was created. Violence, earthquakes, and tsunamis destroyed people’s lives; many of them fled their country due to these circumstances.  But the main reason people flee countries is war. If we’re to question some of these people who fled their country, each person will say “war makes us flee our country” they have passion to stay in their country, but dictatorship, communism, Nazism, socialism etc… won’t let them practice their freedom. Some of their family members might be kidnaped and tortured to death because they practice their freedom. Hitler said “national socialism will use its own revolution for establishing a new world order.” Germany during Hitler’s regime didn’t establish freedom because one man has the power of ruling others. If they had a constitution that gives them the rights to practice their freedom, this structure will give them the right to establish their 
freedom. “The Constitution is certainly the most influential legal document in existence today.”

what people are seeking for

Overthrowing one man rule 

Each developed country or Western power has its own written constitution that gives rights to their citizens. The only reason they are powerful countries is because they have freedom, and it prevents government from tumbling on their rights. Other countries admire the United States constitution because of how it defends people moralities. Even though there are some changes made to the amendments; it still shields the civilian rights. 

Political systems bring confusion that can affect globalization and it will have an impact on developing countries in a bad way or good way. Look at Syria today: innocent civilians are been killed, their homes are being destroyed; they are fleeing to Turkey so they can be protected under the Turkish government. Look at Iraq today; it seems the foundation of the constitution is ruling now, instead of one man ruling. The whole population is in unity. Laws must have the root that holds them together to able to function. It is not easy to start writing a constitution while other countries have their own constitution written more than two hundred years. It won’t be simple. America has  its own constitution after gaining independence from England, they did not wait for 50 years to write one; they knew a new nation must born with its own constitution. Other countries cited the United States Supreme Court’s case, not only to compare their cases but to see how the Americans judged their citizens. For example, Canada adapted the bill of rights and they interpreted it as “a living tree.” 

The revolution of a country's constitution must face the new demands that will lead them to obtain sovereignty. In America, they accepted and faced the new challenges against Britain. Political rebellion is like a pattern that holds two ropes together; if one rope is missing the other rope won’t be able to function. That means fighting for the liberty of all, the mind sets need to be united to able to defeat dictatorship or communism government. Uprising can cause a lot of mess and blood shed; sometimes a regime can be against its own people. This ensued on Libya government.

One man rule