Good morning.
Summer comes to Whitewater on a partly sunny day, with a high of eighty-five, and a likelihood of afternoon thundershowers.
On this day in 1788, the U.S. Constitution receives ratification from a ninth state:
New Hampshire becomes the ninth and last necessary state to ratify the Constitution of the United States, thereby making the document the law of the land.
By 1786, defects in the post-Revolutionary War Articles of Confederation were apparent, such as the lack of central authority over foreign and domestic commerce. Congress endorsed a plan to draft a new constitution, and on May 25, 1787, the Constitutional Convention convened at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. On September 17, 1787, after three months of debate moderated by convention president George Washington, the new U.S. constitution, which created a strong federal government with an intricate system of checks and balances, was signed by 38 of the 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the convention. As dictated by Article VII, the document would not become binding until it was ratified by nine of the 13 states.
Beginning on December 7, five states–Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut–ratified it in quick succession. However, other states, especially Massachusetts, opposed the document, as it failed to reserve undelegated powers to the states and lacked constitutional protection of basic political rights, such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press. In February 1788, a compromise was reached under which Massachusetts and other states would agree to ratify the document with the assurance that amendments would be immediately proposed. The Constitution was thus narrowly ratified in Massachusetts, followed by Maryland and South Carolina. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document, and it was subsequently agreed that government under the U.S. Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789. In June, Virginia ratified the Constitution, followed by New York in July.
On 6.21.1921, Wisconsin leads the nation:
1921 – Nation’s First Women’s Rights Bill Passed
On this day, the Wisconsin legislature passed the nation’s first bill ensuring that women have the same legal rights as men. Section 6.015 opened, “Women shall have the same rights and privileges under the law as men…” It was signed into law on July 11. [Source: Chicago Tribune, June 21, 1921, p. 12]
Puzzability has the final puzzle in its weekday series about summer, running from 6.17 to 6.21:
Summer Is a-Comin’ In
We’ll be welcoming in the new season every day this week. For each day, we started with a word, added the six letters in the word SUMMER, and rearranged all the letters to get a new phrase. Both pieces are described in each day’s clue, with the shorter one first.
Example:
Fish tank scum; church basement flea market-style event
Answer:
Algae; rummage sale
Here’s the puzzle for today:
Utterly disinterested; abstract, as opposed to applied, study of numbers.