FYI...
Constitution Fast Facts
-John Hancock did NOT sign the Constitution
-Thomas Jefferson was an ambassador to France at the time of the Constitutional Convention, hence he didn't sign the Constitution either
-John Adams was an ambassador to England at the time of the Constitutional Convention, hence he didn't sign the Constitution EITHER!
-The Constitution was ratified in 1788 (the Constitution was made to go into effect when 9 of the 13 colonies ratified it. New Hampshire accepted it in 1788, but the last of the 13 states, Rhode Island, ratified it in 1790)
-There are 7 articles and 33 amendments
-The first ten amendments are called the Bill of Rights
Article 1 is about Congress (the Legislative Branch)
Article 2 is about the President (the Executive Branch)
Article 3 is about the Supreme Court (the Judicial Branch)
Article 4 is about the relationships between the states, and the relationships between the states and the government
Article 5 is about amending the Constitution
Article 6 is about the USA's laws, treaties, freedom of religion, and deals with the debts the US accumulated when the Articles of Confederation were the law
Article 7 is about establishing the Constitution
-Of all the known constitutions in the world, the US Constitution is the oldest and the shortest
Difference Between Declaration of Independence and the Constitution
Some people mix up these two documents. Don't be one of those people!
Wow Your Family!
Wow your family with some awesome vocabulary!
Part of learning about the Constitution is knowing what all the words mean. When you are reading it, you should have a dictionary nearby, because many of the words used there aren't used so often now. For the Preamble of the US Constitution, here is a list of words and their meaning in case you don't know them: (these only include the definition that relates to the Constitution itself)
domestic - existing or occurring inside a particular country; not foreign or international
tranquility - the state or condition of being free from disturbance, calm
posterity - children
ordain - order or decree (something) officially