This week we talked about the Constitutional Convention. I gave you some info about it...what else can you find? Look for trivia/stories about the convention and post something here.
I'll get you started:
Benjamin Franklin, age 81 at the time of convention, was so ill he had to be carried to the convention sessions in a sedan chair. He was also too ill to read the speeches he wrote or debate much. He died on April 17, 1790, a little over a month before Rhode Island ratified the Constitution.
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James Madison was the only delegate to attend every meeting. He took detailed notes of the various discussions and debates that took place during the convention. He was the last founding father to die at the age of eighty-five in June 1836. The journal that he kept during the Constitutional Convention was kept secret until after he died. It (along with other papers) was purchased by the government in 1837 at a price of $30,000 (that would be $404,828.99 today).
At 81, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania was the oldest delegate at the Constitutional Convention and at 26, Jonathon Dayton of New Jersey was the youngest. Many of the delegates had fought in the American Revolution and about three-fourths had served in Congress. The average age was 42. Three of those present at the convention (George Mason and Edmund Randolph of Virginia and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts) refused to sign what they considered a flawed document. An ailing John Dickinson of Delaware was unable to attend the Convention’s final session but had fellow delegate George Read sign his name in absentia, for a total of 39 signers.
Of the written national constitutions, the U.S. Constitution is the oldest and shortest.
More than 11,000 amendments have been introduced in Congress. Thirty three have gone to the states to be ratified and twenty seven have received the necessary approval from the states to actually become amendments to the Constitution.
After deciding to write an entirely new Constitution, the delegates meeting in Philadelphia decided to keep the proceedings secret to avoid any outside influence. People were hired to spread dirt outside the Pennsylvania State House on the cobblestone street to "muffle" the sound of the numerous carriages and carts passing by. Armed guards were also hired to protect the secrecy of the meetings.
One of the amendments in the original Bill of Rights that the states considered was a requirement that each representative in the House of Representatives only represent 50,000 people. It did not pass and that is a good thing because that would mean today that we would 5,990 representatives! Today we have 435 representatives because that is the number of chairs that will fit in the House chambers in the U.S. Capitol. So every ten years, after the census is taken, Congress divides the population by 435 and decides how many representatives each state gets.
-26, Jonathon Dayton of New Jersey was the youngest at the convention.
-Established on November 26, 1789, the first national "Thanksgiving Day" was originally created by George Washington as a way of "giving thanks" for the Constitution.
-Of the written national constitutions, the U.S. Constitution is the oldest and shortest.
-More than 11,000 amendments have been introduced in Congress. Thirty three have gone to the states to be ratified and twenty seven have received the necessary approval from the states to actually become amendments to the Constitution.
After deciding to write a new Constitution, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention agreed to keep the proceedings as quiet as possible - literally. Workers were hired to spread dirt on the cobblestone streets outside the Pennsylvania State House to "muffle" the sound of the many carriages and carts used to ferry delegates (and supplies) to and fro. (Armed guards were also hired to protect the secrecy of the meetings.)
On the first reading, and every time thereafter, the convention agreed to provide the chief executive with a veto subject to Congressional override. The biggest issue was how to elect the President. On June 9, the delegates defeated a motion to have the President elected by state executives. On June 18, Hamilton surprised the delegates with a proposal for a President for life.
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