Constitution Approved

The Constitution of the United States was approved by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787, after a summer of intense debate. The delegates had gathered to address the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, under which the national government lacked the power to tax, regulate commerce, or enforce its laws. What began as a plan to revise the Articles became an effort to design an entirely new framework of government.

The document created a stronger central government balanced among three branches, an executive, a bicameral legislature, and a judiciary, with powers checked and divided between the national and state governments. Hard-fought compromises resolved disputes over representation, balancing the interests of large and small states, and over slavery. Thirty-nine of the delegates present signed the final document on behalf of twelve states, Rhode Island having declined to send a delegation.

Approval by the convention was only the beginning, for the Constitution still required ratification by the states amid a vigorous national debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists. The promise of a Bill of Rights helped secure its adoption, and the new government took effect in 1789. The Constitution became the enduring foundation of American government and the oldest written national constitution still in use.