No One Asked Me But… (August 4, 2021)

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… I am presently engaged in the process of putting together a treatise on the United States Constitution. I thought I would share a few of the fun facts I have run across in my study about the early American government.

For the most part this column is not original thought because it is material I have gathered from one source or another. Yes, I understand that when one is writing serious history there should be a citation crediting the author of the information. But this is not a serious historical study, it is merely an opinion column and I thought it would be fun to share some quick notes.

Benjamin Franklin at the age of 81 was the oldest member of the Constitutional Convention. While his mind was still good, his body was in bad shape partially due to the robust living of his youth. Franklin was the matinee idol of the 1700’s. Young girls collected statues of Franklin, but now he was old and paying the price for his youthful indiscretions. He was in constant pain from gout and bladder stones. He was carried into the convention hall on a sedan chair by four prisoners from the Walnut Street jail.

Did you know that, of our first four Presidents, only George Washington did not attend college. John Adams graduated from Harvard and originally taught school. James Madison graduated from Princeton and Thomas Jefferson attended William and Mary.

Even though Washington never attended college, the Marquis de Lafayette so idolized the man that he named his son George Washington Lafayette. I am not sure what that says for a college education.
The shortest Presidential inauguration speech was only 133 words long and it was the speech Washington delivered after his second election when he was talked into running again.

The longest inaugural speech in American history was delivered by William Henry Harrison in a driving rain storm. He died of pneumonia one month later. His speech was the longest and his time in office was the shortest.

In the eight years Jefferson was President, his wine bill was $11,000, which is the equivalent of $226,000 in today’s money.

Jefferson died on July 4, 1826 just hours before John Adams who last words were “Jefferson still lives.”

The following appears on Jefferson’s tombstone: “Author of the Declaration of Independence, of the statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and the father of the University of Virginia.” There was no mention of being President of the United States.

President James Monroe also died on the Fourth of July; however, it was five years later in 1831.
Refusing to shake hands, Washington greeted quests with a bow. When meeting dignitaries, he leaned on a sword with one hand and held his hat in the other, thus negating the possibility of a handshake.

The question of how to address the President was debated. The Senate proposed “His Highness the President of the United States of America and Protector of their Liberties.” They compromised with the House of Representatives and settled for “The President of the United States.” It has now become common to address him as “Mr. President.”

Since the Founding Fathers created the Electoral College for the election of the President of the United States, over 500 amendments have been introduced to change this method and each has failed. The rationale has always been a popular vote is more democratic. However, the word democracy does not appear in the Constitution.

When the vote to ratify the Constitution was taken in New Jersey on March 24, 1788, it failed 237 for and 2,945 against. However, Vermont ratified the Constitution on January 10, 1791, before it was officially declared an independent state.

At the convention, there was a proposal that the American army would be, by Constitution, limited to 5,000 troops. George Washington said he would agree with this if no invading army could consist of more than 3,000. The proposal failed.

Even though over 10,000 amendments have been proposed since the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution, only seventeen amendments have been added to the Constitution. If you remove the 18th Amendment, as was done with the passage of the 21st Amendment, there are actually only 15 amendments to the original document.

Here are five rather interesting amendments that were proposed but they all failed to pass. (1) An amendment to abolish the Senate. (2) An attempt to rename the nation to United States of the Earth. (3) An amendment to abolish the army and navy. (4) Making divorce illegal. (5) An attempt to limit personal wealth to one million dollars.

I find the following facts about the Supreme Court of interest. During the first session, the Supreme Court had no docket and made no decisions. Until the Civil War the court met in the basement of the Capitol. In the late 1800’s, Chief Justice Melville introduced the practice of each justice shaking the hands of his fellow justice before they are seated to hear a case. This practice continues today.

George Washington appointed eleven justices, the most of any president. Franklin Roosevelt appointed nine for the second most. Jimmy Carter is the only President who served a full term without appointing a single Supreme Court Justice.

William Howard Taft was the only President to later serve on the Supreme Court. He was much more pleased with the appointment to court than his election to the presidency.

Byron “Whizzer” White was the only justice who was also a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
The Supreme court hears about 80 of the 7,000-8,000 cases presented to court each year. Each side of a case is given thirty minutes to present its argument.

The Chief Justice sits in the center, the next senior justice sits to his right. The next to his left and so forth until all are seated.

Thought of the week… Once Confucius was walking on the mountains and he came across a woman weeping by a grave. He asked the woman what her sorrow was, and she replied, “We are a family of hunters. My father was eaten by a tiger. My husband was bitten by a tiger and died. And now my only son!”
“Why don’t you move down and live in the valley? Why do you continue to live up here?” asked Confucius.
And the woman replied, “But sir, there are no tax collectors here!”
Confucius said to his disciples, “You see, a bad government is more to be feared than tigers.”