What is the United States Constitution?

Welcome to History's Not Boring by kidopoly.com. I'm Mira. And I'm Finn. Before we start, we have some huge shout-outs today. First, a massive hello to Marshall, who is six and lives in Dunwoody, Georgia, and loves learning over the summer with the podcast.

Marshall, you asked us all about the constitution of the USA, so this whole episode is specially for you. Great pick!

We also want to say a huge happy sixth birthday to Valen in the Philippines, who listens every single day on the school run.

Happy birthday, Valen! And a big hello to Milo, listening all the way in London, UK.

If you haven't already, tap follow wherever you're listening so you never miss an episode. So, what are we talking about today? We are travelling back to the year 1787 to look at the ultimate rulebook.

The ultimate rulebook? Like for a complicated board game?

No, for an entire country. Did you know the United States government runs on a document that is only four pages long? Wait, four pages? My reading homework is longer than that. It's true. It's called the United States Constitution, and it was written by 55 men meeting daily inside a boiling hot, locked room over 116 days.

Okay, but what exactly is a constitution? And why did their meetings have to be in a locked room?

Think of a constitution as the master rule book for a country. It explains how power is shared, what the government can and cannot do, and what rights the citizens have.

Oh, so like the rules for how the country actually works. But didn't they already have rules after they won the Revolutionary War?

They did. After winning independence from Great Britain in 1783, the 13 American states used a rule book called the Articles of Confederation. Did it work? Not really. Under those old rules, the national government was way too weak. They couldn't even collect taxes to pay for an army, build roads, or pay off their war debts.

Wait, no taxes? How did they buy anything? They couldn't. The country was going broke, and states were even arguing over borders. So, in the summer of 1787, leaders decided they needed to meet in Philadelphia to fix the rules. Where exactly in Philadelphia? In a brick building called the Pennsylvania State House, which we now call Independence Hall.

Back then, Philadelphia was the biggest city in America. How big? Like a million people? Not quite. It had about 40,000 people living there. That was huge for the 1780s. That's still a lot of people. So who came to this big meeting? Twelve of the 13 states sent representatives called delegates. Rhode Island was the only state that refused to go.

How many delegates showed up? Exactly 55 men travelled Philadelphia, many riding for days on bumpy dirt roads. The youngest was Jonathan Dayton from New Jersey, who was just 26 years old. And who was the oldest? That was the famous inventor, Benjamin Franklin. He was 81 years old, and in such bad health that he had to be carried to the meetings in a special sedan chair held by four men.

No way! Did George Washington go too? He did. In fact, on May 25th, 1787, they elected George Washington to be the president of the convention. He sat at the front in a big wooden chair that had a son carved into the back. But why were they locked in the room? You mentioned it was boiling hot. They wanted total secrecy.

They were basically inventing a brand new government, and they didn't want the public listening at the windows and panicking before it was finished.

So they closed the windows? In summer?

Yes. Philadelphia summers are famously hot and humid. To keep their secrets, they nailed the windows shut and even placed guards at the doors. There was no air conditioning at all.

Ew! Fifty-five guys in heavy wool coats, meeting daily in a locked room with no fresh air. That must have smelled terrible.

It was definitely uncomfortable. And the heat made everyone grumpy, which didn't help because they immediately started arguing about how the government should work. Arguing about what exactly? Power. A brilliant delegate named James Madison helped write something called the Virginia Plan. It proposed splitting the government into three branches.

One to make laws, one to enforce laws, and one to judge them.

Oh, like a three-legged stool. If one leg gets too long, the whole thing falls over.

Exactly. It's a system called checks and balances, so no one branch gets too powerful. But the Virginia plan also said that states with more people should get more votes in the lawmaking branch.

That makes sense. Bigger population, more votes.

The big states loved it, but the small states hated it. A man named William Patterson introduced the New Jersey plan, demanding that every state get the exact same number of votes, no matter how small. Uh-oh. What happened next? Did they just yell at each other? They argued for weeks. The temperature in the room kept rising, and some delegates even threatened to pack their bags and go home.

The whole country could have fallen apart right there. Did someone stop them? Yes. A delegate from Connecticut named Roger Sherman proposed the great compromise earlier that summer. It finally passed and saved the day on July 16th. What was the compromise? He said, let's split the lawmaking branch into two groups, called houses.

In the House of Representatives, bigger states get more votes, just like they wanted. Okay, and what about the small states? In the other group, called the Senate, every single state gets exactly two votes, no matter how small they are. It was perfectly fair. Phew! That was a close call. Did they agree?

They did. By a very narrow margin of just one vote, the Great Compromise passed. They spent the rest of the summer figuring out the exact details. Finally, after 116 days of arguing, writing and sweating, the constitution was finished. On September 17, 1787, 39 of the 55 delegates signed it.

That's a long time to work on just four pages of rules.

Well, those four pages contain 4,543 words. And they had to write it perfectly, by hand. Wait, who actually wrote it down? Did Benjamin Franklin do it? Nope. They hired a clerk named Jacob Shallis. He was paid $30 to write the whole thing out on stretched animal skin called parchment.

$30? That's not much for the most important document in America.

It was equal to around $1,000 today. But Alexander Hamilton famously spelled Pennsylvania with one N next to the signatures. Though Jacob also misspelled it in the main text.

Oops. Imagine making a spelling mistake on the Constitution.

It's still there today. You can see the original document, spelling mistake and all, at the National Archives in Washington, DC. Does it still matter today?

Like, do we still use those same rules?

We absolutely do. It is the oldest written national constitution still in use anywhere in the world. Over 200 years later, it still protects citizens' freedoms and shares power in the government.

That is incredible. Those guys really knew what they were doing, even if they were super sweaty. Alright, Finn, it's quiz time.

Let's see how much you remember about the Constitution. Okay, I'm ready.

Bring on the questions.

First question. How many delegates actually signed the finished constitution? Next one. Who was the oldest delegate at 81 years old? Question three. What city did they meet in during that long hot summer? Here's number four. What do we call the agreement that Roger Sherman proposed to balance the voting power?

Last question. How many words are in the original four-page document? Great job! Let's see how you did. The first answer is 39 delegates signed it. 55 showed up, but only 39 put their names on it. For question two, the oldest delegate was the famous inventor Benjamin Franklin. The answer to question three is they met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

For question four, it was called the Great Compromise. And the final answer is there are 4,543 words in the original Constitution.

Wow, I got most of those. The Great Compromise is definitely my favourite part. Roger Sherman really saved the day.

He really did. It just goes to show how important it is to work together and find a fair balance, even when people strongly disagree.

And to make sure you open a window if it's too hot inside.

Exactly! Hey, if you enjoyed learning about the ultimate rule book today, please leave us a five-star review. It helps us so much, and you can just scroll down right now and tap the stars.

Yeah, and if you haven't already, make sure you follow this show. Plus, check out our sister shows. Science and Philosophy is not boring, and maths is not boring.

If you want a shout out on the show, or just want to tell us your favorite history fact, send us an email at hello at kidopoly.com.

See you next time on History's Not Boring.

What is the United States Constitution?

Kapitelklicken springt direkt hin

Shownotes

Transkriptvom Podcast bereitgestellt · Zeitmarken springen hin