Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death (Walter D. Joseph)

On Sept. 17, 1787, the U.S. Constitution was signed by thirty-nine brave men who changed the course of history. Now Constitution Day is a time for us to continue their legacy and develop habits of citizenship in a new generation of Americans. Constitution Day (or Citizenship Day) is an American federal holiday that recognizes the ratification of the United States Constitution, and also recognizes all who have become citizens due to either coming of age or naturalization. It is observed on September 17, the day the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in 1787. The law establishing the holiday was created in 2004 with the passage of an amendment by Senator Robert Byrd. In honor of this fine American Holiday, I have put together a blog which includes fun facts, famous quotes and little known history surrounding the Constitution of The United States of America. Take a look and respond with your own interesting facts or comments regarding the U.S. Constitution and its importance to the American people.

Fun Facts:
1. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land.
2. It sets up the government and protects the basic rights of Americans.
3. The Constitution was written after the American War of Independence.
4. It was drafted in 1787.
5. The Federalist Papers are a group of essays that supported the Constitution.
6. The federal government only has the powers that the Constitution says it has.
7. The states have the powers that the federal government does not have.
8. The Preamble is a short statement about the purpose of the Constitution. The Preamble does not prohibit actions or grant rights.
9. The Preamble starts with the words "We the People." This means that the power of the government comes from the people.
10. Changes to the Constitution are Amendments. There are 27 amendments to the Constitution.
11. There are seven Articles in the Constitution.
12. The Constitution separates the government into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.
13. There were 55 delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. The delegates are called the Founding Fathers because they wrote the Constitution.
14. Benjamin Franklin was the oldest member of the Constitutional Convention. He gave a speech when it was completed and asked that all 13 states vote to approve it unanimously.
15. The Constitution was written in the same building that the Declaration of Independence was written in.
16. George Washington was the leader of the men who wrote the Constitution. He remained silent during most of the debates.
17. The first state to ratify the Constitution was Delaware.

Famous Quotes about the Constitution
“I confess that there are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them. For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise.”
— Benjamin Franklin, 1787

“My political curiosity, exclusive of my anxious solicitude for the public welfare, leads me to ask who authorized them (the framers of the Constitution) to speak the language of ‘We, the People,’ instead of ‘We, the States’?”
— Patrick Henry, 1788 (Orations of American Orators)

“As the British Constitution is the most subtle organism which has proceeded from the womb and long gestation of progressive history, so the American Constitution is, so far as I can see, the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.”
— W. E. Gladstone

“The Constitution, on this hypothesis, is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the Judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please.”
— Thomas Jefferson