September 17, 1787

On this day 222 years ago the greatest document ever created was signed, the United States Constitution.

Interesting facts about the Constitution:

1)The U.S. Constitution has 4,400 words. It is the oldest and shortest written Constitution of any major government in the world.

2) Although Benjamin Franklin’s mind remained active, his body was deteriorating. He was in constant pain because of gout and having a stone in his bladder, and he could barely walk. He would enter the convention hall in a sedan chair carried by four prisoners from the Walnut Street jail in Philadelphia.

3) Because of his poor health, Benjamin Franklin needed help to sign the Constitution. As he did so, tears streamed down his face.

4) When the Constitution was signed, the United States’ population was 4 million. It is now more than 300 million. Philadelphia was the nation’s largest city, with 40,000 inhabitants.

5) It took one hundred days to actually “frame” the Constitution.

6) As Benjamin Franklin left the Pennsylvania State House after the final meeting of the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787, he was approached by the wife of the mayor of Philadelphia. She was curious as to what the new government would be. Franklin replied, “A republic, madam. If you can keep it.”

7) The word “democracy” does not appear once in the Constitution.

8) As evidence of its continued flexibility, the Constitution has only been changed seventeen times since 1791! (We have 27 Amendments, but remember 10 of them were wrapped up in one change - the Bill of Rights)

9) The national government spent $4.3 million during the first session of Congress from 1789-1791. During the last year that George Washington was President of the United States (1796-1797), the entire cost of running the federal government was $5,727,000.

10) John Adams referred to the Constitution as “the greatest single effort of national deliberation that the world has ever seen” and George Washington wrote to the Marquis de Lafayette that “It (the Constitution) appears to me, then, little short of a miracle.”

11) There was a proposal at the Constitutional Convention to limit the standing army for the country to 5,000 men. George Washington sarcastically agreed with this proposal as long as a stipulation was added that no invading army could number more than 3,000 troops!

12) A proclamation by President George Washington and a congressional resolution established the first national Thanksgiving Day on November 26, 1789. The reason for the holiday was to give “thanks” for the new Constitution.

It is kind of sad that this day does not usually even get mentioned on calenders let alone celebrated. We are free today because of the events of September 17, 1787. Maybe you can think of your own celebration for Constitution Day or maybe just say a prayer of thanks to God, for giving us our freedom.