The Preamble to the United States Constitution, beginning with the words "We the People", is a brief introductory statement of the Constitution's fundamental purposes and guiding principles. Courts ha
Preamble detail from a Dunlap & Claypoole original printing of the United States Constitution, 1787. (Note that there is a parenthetical comma in "We, the People of the United States" as well as multiple instances of the long s (ſ).)
"We the People" from the original engrossed constitution has been displayed on the obverse of the United States ten-dollar bill since 2006
Long s
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The long s, ⟨ſ⟩, also known as the medial s or initial s, is an archaic form of the lowercase letter ⟨s⟩, found mostly in works from the late 8th to early 19th centuries. It could replace one or both
Preamble to the United States Constitution
…States Constitution, 1787. (Note that there is a parenthetical comma in "We, the People of the United States" as well as multiple instances of the long s (ſ).) The Preamble to the United States Constitution, beginning with the words "We the People", is a brief introductory statement of the Constitution's…
An italicized long s used in the word "Congress" (as "Congreſs") in the United States Bill of Rights
Fifth edition of Encyclopædia Britannica, 1817, top, compared to the sixth edition of 1823; the only change (aside from the elimination of the ⟨ct⟩ ligature, as in "attraction") was the removal of the long s from the typeface.
A sign bar for a shop in Berlin (2002), written in a Fraktur typeface
Title page of John Milton's Paradise Lost, featuring an ſt ligature and a nub on the long s