Much of the writing of the Constitution was done by twelve committees. The important ones were the Rules Committee, the Committee of Detail (which did the first draft), and the Committee of Style (which did the last draft). Then there was the Committee of Leftovers.
Since the historians have little to say about the Committee of Leftovers,I I assume it cleaned up after the other committees on all issues that had been left up in the air.
And so in honor of that committee, I call this my Chapter of Leftovers: bits of facts and trivia that I could find no place for in the other chapters. For example:
In fear that their letters would be intercepted, Madison and Jefferson wrote in code, usually when discussing political opponents like John Adams and Patrick Henry.
At the time of the writing of the Constitution, the one state that allowed women to vote was New Jersey. Women lost that right in 1807.
The Constitution states that Congress need only assemble once a year.
In 1791, the first Senate suggested that the president of the United States be addressed as “His Highness the President of the United States of America and Protector of their Liberties.”
The delegates to the Constitutional Convention were not paid. But eleven delegations got per diems: $4.00 a day for New Jersey—the highest—and 40 shillings per day for Delaware—the lowest.
The “publisher” who first printed the copies of the Constitution in 1787 did not get paid until March 1793.
As a member of the Continental Congress in 1787, James Madison was paid $6.00 per day.
George Washington’s dentures were made from hippopotamus tusks. Whether from the same hippopotamus or several is not clear.II
I. Sometimes referred to as the Brearly Committee, after its chairman, David Brearly of New Jersey.
II. And what kind of book about the Constitution could leave off some mention of George Washington’s teeth?