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 tumbled through the spiders' webs. The spiders pursued the mice, screaming at the top of their lungs. The crickets in the closets kept everyone awake with their all-night chirping. Early in the morning, the pigeons in the clock tower started singing. They woke up anyone who managed to catch even a few moments of sleep. All the animals were exhausted and miserable.

Maddy was sick and tired of being exhausted and miserable. She had the largest ears of any mouse in Independence Hall-and she heard everything. The nights were becoming noisier, and she was concerned 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 their new nation's 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, so she organized a meeting of all the creatures. Every single creature came, from the spiders in the basement to the pigeons in the clock tower. There were so many animals packed together around the bell in the clock tower 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 one of the spiders. “ When was the last time any of you slept all night?" Maddy replied.