# How much of the U.S.S. Constitution is original material? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 9, 2021, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-u-s-s-constitution-is-original-material/952218 "2021-10-09T19:56:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2021, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-u-s-s-constitution-is-original-material/952218/21 "2021-10-11T18:29:53Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I’m sure they just set topsails to slowly cruise around the harbor, but how cool would it be if they’d actually sail out into the bay proper and set all sails? You can build any replica and do that. The magic of the USS Constitution is that it still retains some of the original materials and has a strong connection to the ship that sailed 200+ years ago. Remove that and you just have a copy. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2021, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-u-s-s-constitution-is-original-material/952218/22 "2021-10-11T18:36:52Z")
Yeah, but we don’t have any replicas, except maybe the Etoile du Roy/Grand Turk, and it’s half the size of the Constitution at best. My point is that if they’re going to refit/refurbish/rebuild the ship, they ought to do so properly, so that it can sail like it was intended, with full sails. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2021, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-u-s-s-constitution-is-original-material/952218/23 "2021-10-11T18:45:14Z")
Meh. The _Constitution_ is better as a floating museum than as a functioning sailing ship. You want to sail, take [the other one](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Eagle_(WIX-327)). ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2021, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-u-s-s-constitution-is-original-material/952218/24 "2021-10-11T18:45:51Z")
Or the French one - [French frigate Hermione (2014) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Hermione_(2014)) ---
**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2021, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-u-s-s-constitution-is-original-material/952218/25 "2021-10-11T21:56:08Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > But as a example where it is not the same boat, a bit of steel from the first Big “E” was used to build CVN-65 USS Enterprise and a piece of that Big “E” is being used to build CVN-80 The USS Enterprise. Those are 3 separate ships. I’m just glad _something_ was saved from the Big “E”. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2021, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-u-s-s-constitution-is-original-material/952218/26 "2021-10-11T22:01:26Z")
The shame that CV-6, the first Big “E” was disposed of instead of being a museum ship. It is such a loss. No ship has ever been called upon to do more in all of history as far as I know. I feel like she almost single-handedly slowed the Japanese down to buy us time to start rolling our ships out. But the Constitution was only saved almost by accident. She was stripped down and being used as floating barracks if I recall correctly when Teddy Roosevelt came to the rescue. ---
**Author:** ![Danger\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Danger\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danger_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2021, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-u-s-s-constitution-is-original-material/952218/27 "2021-10-13T20:14:49Z")
I also wonder how much of the US constitution was original and how much was copied from other sources 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2021, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-u-s-s-constitution-is-original-material/952218/28 "2021-10-13T21:47:52Z")
Cribbed from several sources including Magna Carta. > Magna Carta exercised a strong influence both on the United States Constitution and on the constitutions of the various states. However, its influence was shaped by what eighteenth-century Americans believed Magna Carta to signify. Magna Carta was widely held to be the people’s reassertion of rights against an oppressive ruler, a legacy that captured American distrust of concentrated political power. > **[Magna Carta and the U.S. Constitution - Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor |...](https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/magna-carta-muse-and-mentor/magna-carta-and-the-us-constitution.html)** > > Magna Carta exercised a strong influence both on the United States Constitution and on the constitutions of the various states. However, its influence was shaped by what eighteenth-century Americans believed Magna Carta to signify. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2021, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-u-s-s-constitution-is-original-material/952218/29 "2021-10-13T22:03:30Z")
Not to mention the wholesale lifting of ideas and paragraphs from Locke’s _Second Treatise on Civil Government._ ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2021, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-u-s-s-constitution-is-original-material/952218/30 "2021-10-13T22:17:10Z")
The _Virginia Declaration of Rights_ was cribbed from for the Bill of Rights. > **[The Virginia Declaration of Rights](https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/virginia-declaration-of-rights)** > > The Virginia Declaration of Rights Virginia's Declaration of Rights was drawn upon by Thomas Jefferson for the opening paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence. It was widely copied by the other colonies and became the basis of the Bill of... ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-u-s-s-constitution-is-original-material/952218/31 "2021-10-16T12:13:35Z")
I remember visiting the _Constellation_ in Baltimore harbor during the bicentennial. At the time I bought a copper medal purported to come from the original copper sheathing. The coin was also supposed to be a lifetime pass to the vessel. Now the history gets interesting. You can read about it here: > **[USS Constellation (1854)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constellation_(1854))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > USS Constellation is a sloop-of-war, the last sail-only warship designed and built by the United States Navy. She was built at the Gosport Shipyard between 1853 and 1855 and was named for the earlier frigate of the same name that had been broken up in 1853. The sloop's primary armament was 8-inch (203 mm) shell-firing guns and four 32-pounder long guns, though she carried other guns as well, including two Parrott rifle chase guns. Constellation... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-u-s-s-constitution-is-original-material/952218.md?page=1)