UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION DAY, SEPTEMBER 17

During the Second Continental Congress,1777, a committee of statesmen wrote the Articles of Confederation, the first governing document for the United States of America.   The thirteen colonies accepted the Articles of Confederation,1781 , and the newly named United States of America won the Revolutionary War.  However, under the Articles on Confederation, there was no provision for executive or judicial branches.  Nor was there a way for the new government to tax people to raise money or any authority to coin money.

Without the right to tax, to coin money, to settle fights between the states, to regulate trade or to have a military, the national government has very little power.  It became clear that the United States was a poor, powerless country that could be attacked at any time, especially by Great Britain, who wanted to regain the colonies.

With that in mind, members of each state's government convened at the Constitutional Convention  beginning on May 25, 1787.  After many drafts, revisions, much traveling back and forth and written correspondence, the final version of the US Constitution was accepted on September 17, 1787.

Read more about the development of our constitution at www.archives.gov//constitution_history.

Do you know enough about the Constitution and US Government to pass the civics portion of the Naturalization Test?  Try it:  http://www.uscis.gov/

The Preamble to the Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

For fun and nostalgia:  Schoolhouse Rock's Preamble

Take the Fogelson Library  US Constitution Quiz!

True or false?

1. The Constitution was signed at the Capitol Building in Washington DC. 
2. The Constitution was written in conjunction with the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
3. Individual rights are a central theme in the body of the Constitution.
4. Although Thomas Jefferson wrote much of the text of the US Constitution, he did not sign the document.
5. The original Constitution is stored, locked away under guard, in the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution.
6.Fifty amendments have been introduced in Congress and gone to the states to be ratified since 1787, and twenty five have received the necessary approval from the states to actually become amendments to the Constitution.

   


Answers:
1. False.  The Constitution was written and signed at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.  Construction on the Capitol Building was begun in 1793.
2. False.    The first constitution, called the ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, were found to be insufficient for governing the country, so four years after the Revolutionary War was over, and after SHAY'S REBELLION and other indications that a stronger constitution was needed, representatives convened at the Federal Convention May-September 1787 where the Constitution we use now was developed and signed.  By June of 1788, all states had ratified it and it became law.
3. False.  Individual rights were not spelled out in the body of the Constitution.  This was of great concern to many of the delegates, so the first ten amendments were added to the document even before signing and sending to the states for ratification.  The first ten amendments gained the title of THE BILL OF RIGHTS for this reason.
4.Trick question--the first part is false, the second is true.  Thomas Jefferson neither helped write the development of the Constitution, nor signed the completed document.  As United States Minister, he was in France, fulfilling the functions we now consider those of the Secretary of State and Ambassador to France.  Jefferson participated in the development of the Constitution by copious written correspondence, but was unable to be present at the signing of the original document.
5. False.  The original document is on display, for all to visit and read, at the National Archives in Washington DC.
6.  False.  Over 11,000 amendments have been proposed by Congressional representatives.  Thirty-three have gone to state for ratification.  Twenty-seven are included in the present Constitution.


Resources:
 National Archives, archives.gov 
 Library of Congress, loc.gov
 Architect of the Capitol, aoc.gov
 National Constitution Center, constitutioncenter.org
US Citizenship and Immigration Service, uscis.gov