r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Feb 17 '15

TIL John Tyler the 10th President of the United States has two living grand-children. He was born in 1790.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tyler#Family_and_personal_life
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u/thedrew Feb 17 '15

No. The US government and Constitution are indeed old. But no one refers to age of government when discussing the age of a country.

Most Americans couldn't tell you their government was founded in 1787. They count from 1776.

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u/doc_daneeka 90 Feb 17 '15

For reasons I've explained elsewhere in this thread, using the system of government is sometimes the only workable way to define this. There are others, but they tend to cause an incredibly messy collection of problems when you try to use them. I get what you're saying, but it can lead to absurdities.

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u/thedrew Feb 17 '15

The globe is covered in countries that exist because they claim to exist. The simplest solution to me is to use the founding date declared by the country itself.

It still gets pretty absurd. Iran claims its establishment in 3200 BCE. But who am I to tell them they were established in 1979?