EDITOR'S NOTE: Constitution Day (or Citizenship Day) is an American federal observance that recognizes the ratification of the United States Constitution and those who have become U.S. citizens. It is observed on Sept. 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 to the Omnibus spending bill of 2004. Before this law was enacted, the holiday was known as "Citizenship Day."

The act mandates that all publicly funded educational institutions provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution on that day. In May, 2005, the United States Department of Education announced the enactment of this law and that it would apply to any school receiving federal funds of any kind. This holiday is not observed by granting time off work for federal employees.

The following are just a few of the fascinating facts found at www.ConstitutionFacts. com.

o The U.S. Constitution has 4,400 words. It is the oldest and shortest written Constitution of any major government in the world."

o Of the spelling errors in the Constitution, "Pensylvania" above the signers' names is probably the most glaring.

o Thomas Jefferson did not sign the Constitution. He was in France during the Convention, where he served as the U.S. minister. John Adams was serving as the U.S. minister to Great Britain during the Constitutional Convention

and did not attend either.

o The Constitution was "penned" by Jacob Shallus,

a Pennsylvania General Assembly clerk, for $30 ($661 today).

o Since 1952, the Constitution has been on display in the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. Currently, all four pages are displayed behind protective glass framed with titanium. To preserve the parchment's quality, the cases contain argon gas and are kept at 67 degrees Fahrenheit with a relative humidity of 40 percent.

o The Constitution does not set forth requirements for the right to vote. As a result, at the outset of the Union, only male propertyowners could vote. African Americans were not considered citizens, and women were excluded from the electoral process. Native Americans were not given the right to vote until 1924.

o James Madison, "the father of the Constitution," was the first to arrive in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention. He arrived in February, three months before the convention began, bearing the blueprint for the new Constitution.

o Of the forty-two delegates who attended most of the meetings, thirty-nine actually signed the Constitution. Edmund Randolph and George Mason of Virginia and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts refused to sign due in part to the lack of a bill of rights.

o When it came time for the states to ratify the Constitution, the lack of any bill of rights was the primary sticking point.

o The Great Compromise saved the Constitutional Convention, and, probably, the Union. Authored by Connecticut delegate Roger Sherman, it called for proportional representation in the House, and one representative per state in the Senate (this was later changed to two.) The compromise

passed 5-to-4, with

one state, Massachusetts, "divided."

o Patrick Henry was elected as a delegate to the

Constitutional Convention,

but declined, because he "smelt a rat."

o Because of his poor health, Benjamin Franklin needed help to sign the Constitution. As he did so, tears streamed down his face.

o Gouverneur Morris was largely responsible for the "wording" of the Constitution, although there was a Committee of Style formed in September 1787.

o The oldest person to sign the Constitution was Benjamin Franklin (81). The youngest was Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey (26).

o When the Constitution was signed, the United States' population was four million. It is now more than 300 million. Philadelphia was the nation's largest city, with 40,000 inhabitants.

o A proclamation by President George Washington and a congressional resolution established the first national Thanksgiving Day on November 26, 1789. The reason for the holiday was to give "thanks" for the new Constitution.

o The first time the formal term "The United States of America" was used was in the Declaration of Independence.

o It took one hundred days to actually "frame" the Constitution.

o There was initially a question as to how to address the President. The Senate proposed that he be addressed as "His Highness the President of the United States of America and Protector of their Liberties." Both the House of Representatives and the Senate compromised on the use of "President of the United States."

o James Wilson originally proposed the President be chosen by popular vote, but the delegates agreed (after 60 ballots) on a system known as the Electoral College. Although there have been 500 proposed amendments to change it, this "indirect" system of electing the president is still intact.

o George Washington and James Madison were the only presidents who signed the Constitution.

o In November of 1788 the Congress of the Confederation adjourned and left the United States without a central government until April 1789. That is when the first Congress under the new Constitution convened with its first quorum.

o James Madison was the only delegate to attend every meeting. He took detailed notes of the various discussions and debates that took place during the convention. The journal that he kept during the Constitutional Convention was kept secret until after he died. It (along with other papers) was purchased by the government in 1837 at a price of $30,000 (that would be $591,000 today). The journal was published in 1840.

o Although Benjamin Franklin's mind remained active, his body was deteriorating. He was in constant pain because of gout and having a stone in his bladder, and he could barely walk. He would enter the convention hall in a sedan chair carried by four prisoners from the Walnut Street jail in Philadelphia.

o As Benjamin Franklin left the Pennsylvania State House after the final meeting of the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787, he was approached by the wife of the mayor of Philadelphia. She was curious as to what the new government would be. Franklin replied, "A republic, madam. If you can keep it."

o The members of the first Congress of the United States included 54 who were delegates to the Constitutional Convention or delegates to the various state-ratifying conventions. The number also included seven delegates who opposed ratification.

o Benjamin Franklin died on April 17, 1790, at the age of 84. The 20,000 mourners at his funeral on April 21, 1790, constituted the largest public gathering up to that time.

o Vermont ratified the Constitution on January 10, 1791, even though it had not yet become a state.

o The word "democracy" does not appear once in the Constitution.

o There was a proposal at the Constitutional Convention to limit the standing army for the country to 5,000 men. George Washington sarcastically agreed with this proposal as long as a stipulation was added that no invading army could number more than 3,000 troops.

o John Adams referred to the Constitution as "the greatest single effort of national deliberation that the world has ever seen" and George Washington wrote to the Marquis de Lafayette that "It (the Constitution) appears to me, then, little short of a miracle."