Discussion Questions: Most spell check programs would not catch the it’s/its error either (though a grammar check program might). What other writing errors can’t be caught by spell checkers?
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Spelling Errors in the US Constitution
According to the history books, the final preparation of the text for the US Constitution (signed Sept 17, 1787) was a bit rushed. The most glaring mistake is the inconsistent spelling of the word Pennsylvania. This word appears with two n’s first and later with one n. Though the one n spelling was common at the time (it appears on the Liberty Bell), it was an error since Pennsylvania was named after its founder William Penn. In addition, the Constitution uses the spelling c-h-u-s-e for choose, which was also a non-standard variation of the word at the time. Finally, in Article I, Section 10, the possessive form its is incorrectly written as the contraction it’s (before inspection Laws). These minor inconsistencies and errors likely didn’t raise any eyebrows in the late 1700s.
The US Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787. (Constitution Day)
William Penn was the founder of Pennsylvania.
The report mentions the Liberty Bell because Pennsylvania is also spelled with one N on this historic artefact, which shows it was a common spelling (even though it was incorrect).
