I . USS Constitution
a famous US Navy ship. Its popular name is ‘Old Ironsides’ because bullets could not pierce its strong oak sides. It was completed in 1797 in Boston and used in the War of 1812 . When the ship was old there were plans to destroy it, but Oliver Wendell Holmes’s poem Old Ironsides (1828) created strong public feeling against the decision and it was saved. The Constitution has been open to the public in Boston since 1934. In 1997 it sailed for the first time in 116 years, to celebrate its 200th birthday.
II . the Constitution
( in the US ) the document which sets out the system of government and how it works. The Constitution was created after the American Revolution when leaders from each state held a meeting called the Constitutional Convention to agree on a document describing the new system of government and limiting its powers, which was signed in 1789. This established the three branches of government : the legislative branch which consists of Congress , the judicial branch which is the Supreme Court and lower courts created by Congress and the executive branch which consists of the president , vice-president and government departments. The Constitution contains details about the responsibilities of each branch, who can be elected to Congress and says that the US government is responsible for protecting individual states. Since 1789 there have been 27 amendments (= changes) to the constitution including the Bill of Rights (1791) which promised citizens a number of rights such as the right to free speech and freedom of religion. There is sometimes disagreement about how to interpret the constitution, some people believing that it is better to follow exactly what the constitution says and others that it is necessary to consider what the intention of each part was and how that relates to the situation today. The Supreme Court can decide that a law is unconstitutional so that it cannot be used any more.