The U.S. is a young country... NOT!

One of the things we all learn in school is that the United States is a young country.
It's not true.

In fact, we have one of the oldest continuously functioning governments in the world.

When the U.S. Constitution was adopted by the Constitutional Convention on 17 September 1787,

Catherine the Great ruled czarist Russia;

Germany & Italy weren't countries - but collections of principalities, city-states, and petty kingdoms;

China was ruled by the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty;

Japan was loosely confederated under the Shogun;

France was ruled by Louis XVI, and was two years away from The Revolution;

Canada was still a colony within the British Empire, as was India;

Mexico was a colony of Spain - which was a Bourbon monarchy.

Yes - England's Constitutional Monarchy was evolving, and can be said to date from the Restoration in 1660...

BUT: young??? I don't think so.

We might be legitimately characterized as a young nation - but our "nationality" is something different from the usual definition: not based on ethnicity, language, or religion... but on a devotion to our Constitution!

The Framers ought be regarded as miracle-workers, fashioning a Constitution that has withstood civil war, and all the other vagaries of history. 222 years, and counting!

Let's salute 'em!