Do you know that the Constitution is unconstitutional? "Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States" by Howard Chandler Christy. A note to readers: We hope you have found the series interesting so far. It's not over, but after today's quirky installment, the series will take a short hiatus until we get past the madness of Election Day. The series will resume Nov. 12. You can read the whole series here . By the way, did anyone ever tell you that the Constitution is unconstitutional? Yep, the whole thing. Or at least its ratification was illegal. This is not a joke, except to the degree that it is. But the only way to really get square with promise-keeping and the rule of law would be to haul the whole thing down and put the previous document -- the Articles of Confederation -- back into place. Here's the deal. The Articles of Confederation were drafted by the Continental Congress around the time of the Declaration of Independence and ratified by all 13 colonies/states by 1781. It explicitly declared itself to be the "perpetual" form of government for the newly independent nation. (The actual full name of the charter is "The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union" of the 13 original states. The perpetual nature of the 13-state compact is restated throughout. Interestingly, the Constitution makes no such explicit claim, which makes it harder to take Abe Lincoln's side on the question of whether the southern states had the