Today’s fact about the writing of the Constitution is:

The Constitutional delegates met in secret, behind locked doors with sentries guarding the doors. The press was not allowed to attend. The windows were kept closed despite high temperatures and high humidity. Six days a week, for more than three months, they discussed, debated and voted all day in a hot, stuffy, closed room.  The reason for the secrecy was due to the fact that the delegates were sent to revise the Articles of Confederation, not draft a whole new government.  They were concerned that if word of what they were doing were to leak, they would be called home.  So technically, what they were doing could be seen as illegal!  When asked about that possibility, George Washington said: “The legality of this Convention I do not mean to discuss…. That powers are wanting, none can deny…. That which takes the shortest course to obtain them, will, in my opinion, under present circumstances, be found best. Otherwise, like a house on fire, whilst the most regular mode of extinguishing it is contended for, the building is reduced to ashes.”

Did you know you can have the Constitution on your iPad? Go to:  https://itunes.apple.com/app/u.s.-constitution-and-facts/id391169491?mt=8 to download this free copy of the Constitution of the United States of America. Supreme Court Justices travel with a copy wherever they go, and now you can too!