Submitted by the Daughters of the American Revolution
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Constitution Week will be observed Sept. 17-23 to commemorate the 225th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution of the United States of America, one of the most influential legal documents in existence.
Constitution Week was initiated by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and it was officially declared by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on Aug. 2, 1956. Locally on Monday, in celebration of Constitution Week, church bells will ring at noon throughout the community. At the Dalton City Council meeting in the evening, Mayor David Pennington will sign a proclamation.
It took our brave founding fathers 100 days to actually write the Constitution, and it has served as the foundation of our nation.
Here are some interesting facts about the Constitution:
• The U.S. Constitution has 4,440 words.
• It is the oldest and the shortest written constitution of any major government in the world.
• It took 100 days to actually “frame” or write the Constitution.
• Of the 42 delegates, only 39 signed it.
• When the Constitution was signed, the United States’ population was 4 million. Philadelphia was the nation’s largest city with 40,000 inhabitants.
• Thomas Jefferson did not sign the Constitution. He was in France at the time.
• The oldest person to sign was Benjamin Franklin (81). The youngest was Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey (26).
• George Washington and James Madison were the only presidents who signed it.
• The Constitution was “penned” by Jacob Shallus, a Pennsylvania General Assembly clerk, for $30 ($738 today).
