Ring those bells!

The ancient Chinese used large bronze bells for time-keeping and to signal important events. Bells were used to call people to prayer and to signal the start of games. Bells were also used to warn of impending danger, such as fire or attacks by enemy forces. Ship bells would be rung to mark a successful passage or to sound an alarm. Some cultures believed the sound of the bells could ward off evil spirits.

Bells Across America is an annual celebration of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. On Sept. 17, people gather to ring bells at 4:00 p.m. to recreate the church bell of Philadelphia that rang out when the U.S. Constitution was signed in 1787. However, the bell ringing to celebrate the signing of the Constitution seems to get overlooked. Perhaps the problem is that we don’t get a day off to “Ring those bells.” I propose that we contact our Congressman and start a petition to lobby for a new federal holiday.

James Madison, considered the architect of the Constitution, arrived in Philadelphia several days before the proceedings were to begin. Philadelphia was the most modern city in America with a population of 40,000 people, 7,000 street lamps, 33 churches, 10 newspapers, and a university.

The U.S. Constitution contains 4,400 words. It is the shortest written Constitution of any major government in the world. There are several spelling errors in the Constitution, but the word “Pensylvania” above the signers’ names is the most glaring. Benjamin Franklin, 81, was the oldest signer of the Constitution. He suffered from gout and bladder stones and was carried into the convention hall in a sedan chair carried by four prisoners. The youngest signer was Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey, 26.

During the Constitutional Convention there was a proposal to limit the national military to 5,000 soldiers. Washington had just led an understaffed, unprepared, and short-supplied army to victory during the Revolutionary War, so when a Constitutional delegate proposed limiting the army to 5,000 men, Washington sarcastically said he would agree if they could also stipulate that “no invading army could number more than 3,000 troops.”

Several framers of the Constitution met with untimely deaths, leading to rumors of a curse. Alexander Hamilton was killed by Aaron Burr in that infamous duel, but he wasn’t the only one to die in a duel. North Carolina delegate Richard Spaight was mortally wounded in a duel with congressman John Stanly. George Wythe, a Virginia planter, and Thomas Jefferson’s legal mentor, died of arsenic poisoning. His heir and debt-ridden grand-nephew was the likely culprit. Pennsylvania delegate Governor Morris died after attempting to use a piece of whalebone to clear a blockage in his urinary tract, causing internal injuries and an infection. John Lansing, New York, mysteriously vanished in December 1829, after leaving his Manhattan hotel room to mail a letter.

Thirty-nine of the 42 men present signed the Constitution. George Washington signed first followed by each state delegation. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams did not sign the Constitution. Jefferson was in France, serving as the U.S. Minister to France, and Adams was serving as the U.S. Minister to Great Britain. Four South Carolinians, all from Charleston, signed the Constitution, Pierce Butler, Charles Pinkney, his cousin, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and John Rutledge.

Rutledge, was elected Governor of South Carolina in 1776. He repulsed a British attack on Sullivan’s Island and suppressed a Cherokee uprising. When Charleston fell to the British in 1780, his property was confiscated and Rutledge escaped to North Carolina. Today, his home, built in 1763, is the only remaining founder’s home that you can spend the night in. It’s a bed & breakfast located on Broad Street in Charleston. While Washington did not stay there overnight, he did stop by for breakfast one morning.