the.com/constitution
a 235-year-old rulebook everyone swears by and nobody fully agrees on
means the fundamental set of principles and rules by which a state, organization, or even a body is governed and structured.
from From Latin 'constitutio,' meaning a 'fixed arrangement' or 'ordinance,' built from 'constituere' — 'to set up, establish, appoint' — itself a marriage of 'com-' (together) and 'statuere' (to set or stand). The same root that lets you 'institute' and 'substitute' also lets you 'constitute.' For centuries the word simply meant the way something was put together — which is why your physical 'constitution' (whether you're hale or sickly) and the legal 'constitution' of a nation are the same word: both describe how the parts are arranged to stand.
- original length
- about 4,500 words, shorter than this paragraph's ambitions
- oldest standing
- world's oldest written national constitution still in use
- amendments
- 27 changes in 235 years, 10 arrived at once
- penmanship
- handwritten on parchment by Jacob Shallus, a clerk
- typo included
- Pennsylvania misspelled 'Pensylvania' right on the document
us constitution — 1787 document establishing the framework for the united states federal government
indian constitution — longest written constitution in the world, adopted january 26, 1950
weimar constitution — 1919 german constitution that established the weimar republic