10 Uncommon Facts About The US Constitution

We're all experts on celebrating America's independence from the British, but how good are you at knowing stuff about the government charter that came of it?

Here are 10 facts about the Constitution of the United States.

Number 10. Two of our founding fathers didn't sign it. Thomas Jefferson was off representing the US in France and John Adams was pulling diplomat duty in Great Britain.

Number 9. It contains spelling errors. Among them is the misspelling of Pennsylvania. Also, many may be relieved to know that even the brainy guys behind the Constitution had a tough time knowing when not to use the apostrophe in 'its'.



Number 8. The US has the shortest constitution. Among the rule writers of the modern world the early Americans were the most brief. They outlined the laws of the land in only 44 hundred words. For comparison, the longest constitution is India's, which in English has over 117 thousand words.

Number 7. The US was relatively small when the Constitution was signed. There were only 4 million people in the country, and the largest city, Philadelphia, had a mere 40 thousand residents.

Number 6. There was a lot of debate about what to call the president. One suggestion was "His Highness the President of the United States of America and Protector of their Liberties." Eventually, the House and Senate settled on President of the United States.

Number 5. James Madison wasn't entirely overlooked. If you feel that President Madison, regarded as 'the father of the Constitution', was shafted because he's never been memorialized on money, rest easy. He's on the super-rare 5 thousand dollar bill, as well as the one dollar coin.

Number 4. Americans are getting older. At the time the constitution was penned, the median age in the country was 16. Nowadays it's in the mid 30s.

Number 3. The scribe who inked the Constitution was only paid $30. Of course, that's over 700 dollars in today's money. It was paid to one Jacob Shallus, a clerk for the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Number 2. The Constitution refers to 'others'. By that, the authors meant those belonging to ethnic minorities.

Number 1. Not all of those who signed the Constitution were born in the US. 4 of them came from Ireland.