The Creature Constitution

The Creature Constitution

Independence Hall Philadelphia, 1786 None of the creatures in Independence Hall were able to sleep. Every night, the mice in the basement ran through the spiders' webs. Then the spiders chased the mice. The crickets in the closets chirped all night. In the morning, the pigeons in the clock tower started singing. All the animals that lived in the building were tired and miserable.

Maddy had the largest ears of any mouse in Independence Hall, and she heard everything. She worried that no one would ever have a good night's sleep.

One morning, she heard humans discussing something that sounded important. Maddy sneaked into the room and listened as they argued about needing a constitution. They needed some rules that everyone in the country would follow. The rules would bring the separate parts of the country together.

Maddy thought a constitution was an excellent idea. She organized a meeting of all the creatures, and every creature came. There were so many animals in the room that they could barely move.

" Thank you for coming, everybody, " Maddy said. “ The humans have a great idea. They are writing a constitution. We should have our own constitution. " “ What's a constitution?" asked a pigeon. " It's a document that explains rules that we all live by, " Maddy said. " We don't need any rules, " said a spider. “ When was the last time any of you slept all night?" Maddy replied.