The Constitution of the United States
The Constitutional Convention 1787
This founding charter sets out how the United States government is built and what powers it holds. Its seven articles are followed by all 27 amendments, beginning with the Bill of Rights.
30 pages 35 min reading time
- The oldest written national constitution still in use today, and one of the most influential legal documents in history.
- Divides power among three branches of government (one to make laws, one to carry them out, and one to judge them) so that each can check the others.
- Sets up a system where power is shared between a national government and the states, with the people as the final source of authority.
- Inspired the written constitutions of many other countries, which borrowed its ideas of separated powers and limits on government.
- Its first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights, became a model for protecting freedoms like speech, religion, and fair trials around the world.
Written in total secrecy
Delegates met behind closed, guarded doors in a hot Philadelphia summer, and kept their debates private for decades.
Meant only to fix rules
The meeting was called to improve the older Articles of Confederation, but delegates wrote a whole new plan instead.
Penned by a hired clerk
Jacob Shallus, a state assembly clerk, handwrote the final copy on parchment and was paid 30 dollars.
A fierce fight to approve
Newspapers filled with essays for and against it, and several states approved it by only narrow votes.
Translated from English