Interesting Facts about our U.S. Constitution

• George Washington and James Madison were the only presidents who signed the Constitution.
• The word “democracy” does not appear once in the Constitution.
• The main reason for the meeting in Philadelphia was to revise the Articles of Confederation. However, the delegates soon concluded that it would be necessary to write an entirely new Constitution. They agreed to conduct the meetings in secret by stationing guards at the door to the Pennsylvania state house.
• When it came time for the states to ratify the Constitution, the lack of a bill of rights was the primary sticking point.
• As evidence of its continued flexibility, the Constitution has only been changed seventeen times since 1791!
• The Constitution was “penned” by Jacob Shallus, A Pennsylvania General Assembly clerk, for $30 ($1,027 today).
• Rhode Island was the only state not to send delegates to Philadelphia in 1787. At that time the state legislature was controlled by the agrarian party and was fearful a stronger central government would demand that debts be paid in specie (hard money). It was the last state to ratify the Constitution on May 29, 1790 (over a year after George Washington’s inauguration) by a vote of 34-32.