Today in History

On September 17, 1787, members of the... Constitutional Convention signed the final draft of the Constitution. Two days earlier, when a final vote was called, Edmund Randolph called for another convention to carefully review the Constitution as it stood. This motion, supported by George Mason and Elbridge Gerry, was voted down and the Constitution adopted.

The product of four months of secret debate, the Constitution proposed an entirely new form of government. Immediately after winning independence from English rule, the North American colonies were joined together under the Articles of Confederation.

The Articles provided only marginally for the operation of the Continental Congress and management of trade between the states. Economic flaws in the Articles of Confederation were disastrous for the former colonies. Runaway inflation caused dissention throughout the states culminating in Shays Rebellion of 1786 in which armed bands of protesters forced the closing of several courts to prevent execution of foreclosures and debt processes.

John Adams and John Tyler hoped to address the need for stronger central government when they called for congressional regulation of commerce within the confederation. Partly as a result of this proposal, a convention was held in September 1786 in Annapolis to discuss trade issues. At this meeting, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton proposed a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation.

On February 21, 1787, the Continental Congress called for a National Convention to meet in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. By May 25, the state delegates reached a quorum and the Constitutional Convention officially began. General George Washington was selected unanimously as President of the Convention.

From the outset, delegates clashed over issues of state sovereignty while small and large states battled over distribution of power. Fears of creating a too powerful central authority ran high. The Convention tackled basic issues including the essential structure of the government, the basis of representation, and the regulation of interstate trade. As he submitted the Constitution to the Continental Congress, George Washington acknowledged the difficult task the Convention faced:

It is at all times difficult to draw with precision the line between those rights which must be surrendered, and those which may be preserved; and, on the present occasion, the difficulty was increased by a difference among the several States as to their situation, extent, habits, and particular interests . . . thus, the Constitution which we now present is the result of a spirit of amity, and of that mutual deference and concession, which the peculiarity of our political situation rendered indispensable.

Letter from George Washington to the Confederation Congress, accompanying the Constitution, September 17, 1787,
Historical Background: The Constitution
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation, 1774-1875

Although the Constitutional Convention met for the last time on September 17, 1787, public debate over the Constitution was just beginning. The Constitution specified that at least nine states ratify the new form of government, but everyone hoped for nearly unanimous approval. As the states called their own ratifying conventions, arguments for and against the document resurfaced. Writing under the pseudonym Publius, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay defended the proposed plan in a series of newspaper articles, later collected as the The Federalist.

Narrowly approved in some states, the Constitution became law by June 1789. On April 30, 1789, President George Washington delivered the first inaugural address, and within his initial term the first ten amendments--known as the Bill of Rights--were adopted, establishing the fundamental rights of U.S. citizens, assuaging many fears associated with the relatively strong central government the Constitution provides.