The Constitution may have earned an A in civics, but in terms of grammar and consistency, it's well below the (Liberty) bell curve
12 Glaring Mistakes in the Constitution You Might Have Missed
Updated on May 29, 2025
In 1787, the U.S. Constitution was drafted by members of the Constitutional Convention, led by James Madison. On Sept. 15, 1787, as the convention wound down, Jacob Shallus, a clerk for the Pennsylvania State Assembly, set about committing it to “final form.” He did so by hand, with pen and ink, as was standard for the time. Shallus did, in the National Archives’ words, a “fine job” inscribing the more than 4,000 words across four large sheets of parchment paper. But that’s not to say Shallus didn’t make errors or that further mistakes in the Constitution weren’t introduced later.
Some mistakes in the Constitution are substantive. Some are grammatical. Some may involve a little of both. If you’re curious to see how our Founding Fathers fared grammatically, read on. Ahead, we have a dozen Constitutional flubs, along with why they happened.
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Its incorrect spelling
Article 1, Section 10 reads, “No State shall … lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s Inspection Laws.” The possessive its was incorrectly written as the contraction it’s. Interestingly, its appears correctly elsewhere in the Constitution, suggesting careless transcription rather than a misunderstanding of grammar. We’re willing to cut Shallus some slack on this one—it’s versus its is one of the most confusing grammar rules, after all.
Imprecise wording
Article II, Section 1 states, “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years…” As written, it implies that the U.S. president holds office for some undefined duration during a four-year term. If it were written more precisely, the word for would have stood in for the word during.
The wrong article
In the same section, executive power is vested in “a” president. Using the instead would have clarified that only one individual holds that office at a time.
Misspelling of Pennsylvania
Alexander Hamilton assisted in writing the names of states next to the signatories’ names. Next to Benjamin Franklin, Hamilton wrote “Pensylvania,” omitting the second n. The misspelled word was an ironic error, given that the Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia.
Inconsistent capitalization
In the 1700s, capitalizing every noun was common. Yet in the Constitution, capitalization is inconsistent. For example, defense (spelled “defence”) in the preamble is lowercase, as are credit in Article I, Section 8, and duty and present in Article I, Section 9. When the Bill of Rights was drafted two years later, Congress moved away from heavy capitalization, introducing further inconsistencies.
A missing hyphen
Grammar rules say a hyphen is necessary in compound numbers (aka numbers made up of two words). Yet in Article I, Section 2, “twenty five” is written without a hyphen. The correct version: twenty-five.
British spellings
Although the United States had declared independence from the British motherland, the Constitution retains some traditional British spellings, including defence, controul and labour. In the United States, we’d spell them as defense, control and labor.
An errant comma
In Article II, Section 1, the sentence “The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons…” includes a comma that completely disrupts it. Ignoring the comma is necessary for the sentence to make logical sense.
Inconsistent comma use
The preamble to the Constitution employs Oxford commas, but Article II, Section 4 does not: “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be…”
A comma between a noun and a verb
Article III, Section 1, reads, “The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court.” If you’re thinking the punctuation mark between States and shall breaks all comma rules, you’re not wrong. Grammatically, the noun and verb should not be separated by a comma.
A misplaced semicolon
Article VI contains a misplaced semicolon: “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land…” It seems clear that the Constitution and the Laws are intended to be the supreme law of the land just as much as Treaties are. But because the semicolon disrupts the sentence structure, it suggests separate authority for treaties.
Questionable commas
The Second Amendment reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Over the years, the placement of commas has fueled debates over gun rights. Some interpret the commas as linking arms ownership solely to militia service, while others disagree. In 2016, the Atlantic reported that Thomas Jefferson tried proposing an alternate version without the first comma, but he was too late; the amendment had already been ratified.
While the mistakes in the Constitution are undeniable, they serve as a reminder that this was still human effort at the end of the day. Grammar mistakes, spelling errors and ambiguities have not weakened the Constitution’s power—they highlight the challenges of crafting a lasting framework for governance.
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Sources:
- National Archives: “Errors in the Constitution—Typographical and Congressional”
- National Archives: “The Constitution of the United States—A Transcription”
- Cambridge Dictionary: “During or For?”
- USConstitution: “Misspellings in the U.S. Constitution”
- Supreme Court of the United States: “District of Columbia v. Heller”
- The Atlantic: “The Most Consequential Comma in U.S. History?”
- National Constitution Center: “The United States Constitution”
