1

A secret convention

The Constitutional Convention gathered between May 25 and September 17, 1787, in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, at that moment the seat of the U.S. government. Although the initial intention had been to "fix" the government delineated in the Articles of the Confederation, the constituents, also known as the "Framers", decided to write a new document altogether. For nearly five months, delegates from 12 states (Rhode Island had refused to participate) deliberated in secret , wanting to avoid external pressure but also any leak or rumor that could lead to mass panic.

2

A controversial document

While James Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for his role in shaping our government, the document as we know it was mainly drafted by Pennsylvania delegate Gouverneur Morris. Although the convention had reluctantly agreed on 23 points, the final draft only contained seven, plus a preamble and a closing endorsement . This result, caused by several necessary compromises, disappointed many delegates, including Benjamin Franklin, who still voted in favor because they believed that they couldn’t reach a better agreement.

3

Spelling errors

The text for the Constitution had been drafted by Gouverneur Morris, but the document to be signed was penned on five parchment pages by Jacob Shallus, an assistant clerk to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Shallus received $30 for his work (equivalent to about $750 today). The document was written quite hastily, which led to misspellings in the text , although some of them might have been common alternative spellings at that time, such as "chuse" instead of "choose". The most famous error is "Pensylvania" in the list of signatory states, a list written by Alexander Hamilton, not by Shallus.

4

The compromises

The heated debates about the new government forced the delegates to reach a series of compromises. The most significant concerned state representation (larger states wanted proportional votes, smaller states demanded equal representation), whether enslaved people counted towards state population, and the executive government’s election method. As a result, the Convention decided on a Bicameral legislature (the House of Representatives with proportional representation and the Senate with equal representation), counted three-fifths of the enslaved population towards representation and taxation, and decided on an electoral college to balance popular votes and state electors.

5

The constituents

The convention, presided over by George Washington, was comprised of delegates from 12 states, a mix of lawyers, merchants, landowners, physicians, and public officials. All of them had political experience, having served in the Continental Congress, the Confederation Congress, or as signers of the Declaration of Independence , although their ages varied. New Jersey delegate Jonathan Dayton was the youngest constituent, at 26 years old, while Pennsylvania delegate Benjamin Franklin was the oldest, at 81 years old.

6

The men who refused

The Constitutional Convention had 55 delegates in total, but not all of them signed the Constitution or were even present at the signing. Thirteen of them had returned to their states due to professional or personal reasons, or as a form of protest. George Mason, Elbridge Gerry, and Edmund Randolph remained at the convention, but refused to sign the Constitution without a Bill of Rights. In the end, only 39 out of 55 delegates signed the final document.

7

Delaware, the First State

Although Delaware is traditionally regarded as the 13th colony, and it functioned as such with its own assembly, it had always been part of Pennsylvania, only becoming an independent state with the start of the Revolutionary War. The second-smallest state beside Rhode Island, Delaware was the first to unanimously ratify the new U.S. Constitution , less than three months after it was signed, making it the first state to join the Union and earning it the nickname of "The First State".

8

The Bill of Rights

The inclusion of a Bill of Rights had been debated during the Constitutional Convention, but it had been rejected under the argument that it could imply that any right not mentioned did not exist. However, this posed a later issue, as some states flat-out refused to ratify a Constitution that lacked protection of individual rights. To ensure ratification, these states were promised that a bill of rights would be added. The Constitution was fully ratified on May 29, 1790, and the Bill of Rights, composed of ten amendments, was added on December 15, 1791.

9

What about slavery?

The terms "slave" or "slavery" do not appear in the original text of the Constitution, but this doesn’t mean the institution was not contemplated or protected in the document. The text spoke of people "bound to service", counted three-fifths of them towards a state’s population, prevented Congress from banning the import of enslaved people until 1808, and included a clause to return fugitives to their enslavers. It was not until 1865, with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, that the text of the Constitution formally addressed slavery, abolishing it across the U.S.

10

Amendments

Article V of the original text delineated the mechanism to amend the Constitution, contemplating that the government should be able to change as the nation changed. Any amendment requires a majority vote (two-thirds) of both chambers of Congress, plus the ratification of three-fourths of the states. Since the inception of the Constitution, more than 11,000 amendments have been proposed to Congress, but only 33 have been approved and sent to be ratified by the states. Of those, only 27 have been effectively ratified, the last one, concerning changes in congressional pay, fully ratified in 1992.

1

Arizona skips Daylight Saving Time

Image: Christoph von Gellhorn

This is partly true because most of the state doesn’t bother with Daylight Saving Time . They stopped changing the clocks back in 1967. The exception is the Navajo Nation, which stretches into Utah and New Mexico and keeps DST so all its communities stay on the same schedule. Now, as for the smaller Hopi reservation, inside the Navajo Nation, it sticks with Arizona time… Yes, quite confusing if you’re not a local.

2

Georgia isn’t really the Peach State

Image: Jessica Furtney

Georgia loves its peaches, sure, but the state’s top fruit money-maker is actually blueberries . In recent years, blueberries have brought in several times more cash for farmers than peaches. Meanwhile, California grows far more peaches than Georgia ever has. The nickname stuck from the old days when Georgia peaches were famous for their flavor, not their volume. So while the pride is real, the peaches aren’t quite the powerhouse people may think.

3

Nevada didn’t record the hottest US temperature

Image: tommao wang

You probably think of Nevada’s desert heat as unmatched, but the all-time record belongs to California’s Death Valley . In July 1913, it hit a mind-melting 134 degrees Fahrenheit, the hottest temperature not only in America but the hottest ever recorded on Earth!

4

Minnesota doesn’t have the most lakes

Image: Tom Conway

Minnesota proudly calls itself the "Land of 10,000 Lakes," but that’s selling itself short… The real number is closer to 12,000. However, Alaska wins this battle . The state has more than 3 million lakes over five acres in size. In fact, Alaska contains over 40 percent of the nation’s surface water. If you love fishing, kayaking, or just staring at a quiet stretch of water, the true lake capital of America is far up north.

5

Pineapples aren’t native to Hawaii

Image: Christian Joudrey

Pineapples are everywhere in Hawaiian imagery, but the plant actually comes from South America , mainly Paraguay and southern Brazil. Spanish explorers likely brought them to Hawaii in the 1500s after spreading them across the Pacific to places like the Philippines and Guam. Hawaii’s climate turned out to be perfect for growing them and by the 1900s, the islands were producing so many pineapples that the fruit became a symbol of Hawaii itself.

6

Maine isn’t the country’s easternmost point

Image: Chris Henry

If you’re a Geography geek, you’ll love this one. You might picture Maine’s rocky coast as the eastern tip of America, but the actual easternmost point is thousands of miles away, on Alaska’s Semisopochnoi Island in the Aleutians. How is that possible? Well, that’s because it crosses the 180th meridian, putting it in the Eastern Hemisphere. That means part of Alaska technically sits farther east than anywhere in Maine.

7

The biggest US earthquake didn’t happen in California

Image: Lala Miklós

California has suffered some big earthquakes in its history, but the most powerful earthquake in America struck Alaska in 1964 . It hit Prince William Sound with a magnitude of 9.2. It was so strong it shook the ground for four and a half minutes and triggered massive tsunamis. In today’s dollars, the damage would total more than $2 billion. Alaska sits on a collision zone of tectonic plates, making it one of the world’s most seismically active regions.

8

The Everglades isn’t America’s biggest swamp

Image: Joshua J. Cotten

A lot of people picture the Florida Everglades when they think of swamps, but technically, the Everglades isn’t a swamp at all. The real title of the largest swamp in the United States goes to Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin , which spans about 1.4 million acres. This swamp has a vast mix of cypress forests, bayous, and marshes, and it’s more than twice as productive as the Everglades when it comes to wildlife and plant life.

9

Big cities aren’t always capitals

Image: Mackenzie Cruz

It surprises people how often the biggest city isn’t the state capital . New York City? Not the capital… Albany is. Chicago? Nope, that honor goes to Springfield. Pennsylvania’s capital isn’t Philly or Pittsburgh, it’s Harrisburg. Even California’s capital isn’t L.A. or San Francisco, it’s actually Sacramento. Out of fifty states, only seventeen have their most populous city as the capital.

10

Alaska isn’t divided into counties

Image: Rod Long

Alaska likes to do things its own way. Instead of counties, it’s split into boroughs , and a massive area known as the Unorganized Borough has no local government at all. People out there don’t pay property taxes, but that freedom comes with challenges, limited services, fewer job options, and tough living conditions.

1

A renovation project saved thousands of lives on 9/11

On September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., killing 189 people. Few people know this part: the death toll could have been much higher. But there was a renovation project underway at the time of the attacks.

The Pentagon’s five-sided structure is divided into five "wedges," and workers had been renovating them one at a time. Flight 77 struck the wedge that had just been completed. Of the 4,500 people who normally worked in that section, only about 800 had moved back in. Without the reinforced construction and the incomplete occupancy, experts believe the casualties would have been catastrophically higher.

2

The Cold War and the hot dog stand

In the middle of the Pentagon’s five-acre center courtyard once stood a modest hot dog stand. According to a Cold War legend (one still retold by official Pentagon tour guides on every public tour), between the 60s and the 80s, Soviet satellite images tracked large groups of high-ranking military officials converging on that small building at the same time every day.

Soviet intelligence reportedly concluded the structure must be the entrance to some underground bunker in America. In reality, all it did was sell lunch. In 2006, the original stand was torn down, and a sandwich shop was built in its place.

3

Its construction began on September 11th, exactly 60 years before the attack

Builders broke ground on the Pentagon on September 11, 1941. That was exactly 60 years to the day before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that would strike the same building.

Construction had been ordered by Army Brigadier General Brehon Somervell, who wanted a permanent headquarters for the Defense Department to replace its then-17 scattered offices across Washington, D.C.

The project was extraordinarily ambitious: plans called for the world’s largest office building to be completed in just 16 months. In the end, the conception, design, and construction of the entire Pentagon building took a total of 15 months.

4

The same person oversaw its construction and the Manhattan Project

Colonel Leslie Groves of the Army Corps of Engineers took charge of Pentagon construction in August 1941. He worked six days a week and drove his team relentlessly, at one point employing more than 15,000 workers around the clock.

When the Pentagon was finished in January 1943, Groves was assigned to lead the Manhattan Project, America’s secret program to build the atomic bomb . His deputy, Captain Robert Furman, followed him into the Manhattan Project as chief of foreign intelligence. Together, the men who built the world’s largest office building went on to produce the weapon that ended World War II.

5

Why is it shaped like that?

The Pentagon’s iconic five-sided shape was the consequence of a geographic accident. The original site selected for the building, near Arlington Cemetery, **happened to be bordered on five sides by roads. **Architects designed the structure to fit those boundaries, producing a pentagonal floor plan. Then President Franklin D. Roosevelt intervened: worried the massive building would obstruct the view of Washington, D.C. from Arlington, he ordered the site moved to its current location along the Potomac River. But the five-sided design had already been drawn up, and nobody changed it.

6

It was the first desegregated building in Virginia

When the Pentagon was designed in 1941, segregation was the law in Virginia. Original plans called for doubled bathroom facilities: separate ones for Black and white employees, as required by Virginia statute. But President Roosevelt had signed Executive Order 8802 in June 1941, prohibiting racial discrimination in federal employment and government contracting.

As a federal building, the Pentagon was exempt from Virginia law. It became the only building in the state where segregation was not enforced. A fully desegregated federal workplace that opened in 1943. The doubled bathrooms were built anyway, as the plans were too far along to revise, but were never used as separately designated spaces.

7

Its construction was surprisingly frugal and incredibly fast

Ground broke on September 11, 1941, and construction finished on January 15, 1943, just 16 months later. More than 15,000 workers were on site around the clock. Wartime office shortages were so severe that employees moved into completed wings before the rest of the building was finished. Steel was too scarce to use extensively, so builders relied almost entirely on reinforced concrete. The 689,000 tons of sand and gravel required came directly from the nearby Potomac River, cutting transportation costs. The project was budgeted at $35 million, but the final bill was $63 million, which would translate to over $900 million in today’s dollars.

8

You can walk between its farthest points in only 7 minutes

The Pentagon is the world’s largest low-rise office building: 6.5 million square feet of space, which is three times the total floor area of the Empire State Building. Each of its five outer walls is 921 feet long. It has 7,754 windows and 17.5 miles of corridors. Approximately 26,000 military and civilian employees report for work there every day.

Despite that scale, the building’s concentric ring design is so efficient that it takes only about seven minutes to walk between its two farthest points.

9

The man who secretly lived inside its walls

During construction, Colonel Groves drove his deputy, Captain Robert Furman, so relentlessly that Furman rarely left the building. To cope, Furman had contractors build him a small, windowless apartment hidden inside the walls of the Army’s Ordnance Division. In this private room, he could sleep and shower without leaving the premises.

When construction ended and personnel dispersed, knowledge of the hidden room was never passed on to building management. Months later, when Furman returned to Washington on Manhattan Project intelligence business, he found the apartment undiscovered and exactly as he’d left it.

For over a year, he would slip back to the Pentagon, pop open a wall panel, spend the night, and emerge in the morning with his suitcase. He was finally caught in 1943 and forced to surrender the keys. It was never disclosed whether the secret apartment was maintained or eventually absorbed back into the official floor plans.

10

It houses over 30 restaurants, including everyone's favorite chains

The Pentagon feeds roughly 26,000 people a day, and its dining options read less like a military headquarters and more like a mall food court. The main Concourse Food Court, which opened in September 2009 and seats 875 people, is the largest of several dining areas.

Confirmed chains currently inside the building include McDonald’s, Five Guys, Subway, Popeyes, Starbucks (multiple locations), Dunkin’ (two locations), Panera Bread, Taco Bell, Panda Express, Baskin-Robbins, Potbelly, Jamba Juice, and Moe’s Southwest Grill, among others. The building also houses a CVS pharmacy, a florist, a jeweler, and a dry cleaner. In the summer of 2024, Potbelly became the first restaurant to open in the center courtyard. Yes, the very spot where the legendary Cold War hot dog stand once stood.