THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2016

Tomorrow We Celebrate Constitution Day, Everybody!

Hurley the Historian says Constitution Day was created by Congress in 2004 to require that all schools which receive federal funding offer some type of “educational program” on the U.S. Constitution, but it doesn’t actually define what that should be.  September 17 was chosen because it was the last session of the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, during which the final version  of the newly written U.S. Constitution was signed by 39 delegates.

But since September 17 falls on a Saturday this year, everybody’s supposed to celebrate Constitution Day on Friday.

Schools — pre-K through college — have taken different approaches to teaching the Constitution on this day, some with holding school fairs where information is shared, some with formal lessons on the Constitution. There are numerous online lessons available for teachers and students, including some by the National Archives, which suggest ways to teach six big ideas about the Constitution.

Now let’s all take The Washington Post’s “Constitution Day Quiz” to see how much you actually know about The Constitution.

(1) Who is considered the father of the Constitution?
Benjamin Franklin
George Washington
James Monroe
James Madison

(2) Who was unanimously elected to preside over the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia?
Benjamin Franklin
George Washington
James Monroe
James Madison

(3) Which word is not in the Constitution?
“rights”
“science”
“justice”
“democracy”

 (4) What did the Senate initially want to call the president?
King
The President of the United States of America
His Highness the President of the United States of America and Protector of their Liberties
Chief of State and Commander in Chief of the United States of America
 
(5) Which of the following is not mentioned in the Constitution?
Trial by jury
Public education
Protections for “life, liberty, or property”
How the president should be chosen

(6) Under the Constitution, the longest a president can serve is:
8 years
9 years
10 years
11 years

(7) Who did not sign the Constitution?
Alexander Hamilton
Thomas Jefferson
George Washington
Benjamin Franklin

(8) The biggest obstacle the founders faced in ratifying the Constitution in the states was:
No bill of rights
Slavery
Women’s rights
How to elect the president

(9) The Constitution was signed on Sept. 17, 1787, but not ratified by the required number of states until 1788. How many of the 13 states had to approve it for ratification?
7
8
9
13 

(10) One of the states boycotted the Constitutional Convention in 1787, annoying even the mild-tempered George Washington, because it liked its independence. Which state was it?
Delaware
Georgia
South Carolina
Rhode Island

(11) What word is used in the Constitution to refer to ethnic minorities?
Minorities
Non-whites
Others
All of the above

(12) Only one of the 27 amendments to the Constitution has overturned another amendment. What was the subject?
Voting rights for women
Prohibition
Capital punishment
Giving Miranda rights to criminal suspects  

(13) The website ConstitutionFacts.com has a quiz that has been taken by more than 100,000 users since September 2012. What part of the country got the most perfect scores?
Washington, D.C.
New York
California
Texas

         We’re sure all our Persons of Consequence got all the answers right. But we showed you the answers in case you want to ask your children what they learned in school today.

This controversial painting by Jon McNaughton showing Obama trampling the Constitution is called “The Forgotten Man.”  Your children’s schools probably didn’t teach your children about it today.

Now Let’s Watch A Video About That Painting.