Isabella Carter
The United States Constitution has been in effect since 1789, and it has served as the supreme law of the United States. The document was signed on September 17, 1787, by 39 delegates, and it took almost two years for it to be ratified by the required nine out of thirteen states. The Constitution was not ratified by all states until May 29, 1790, when Rhode Island finally approved the document. The Constitution's main provisions include seven articles that outline the basic framework of the federal government, and it has been amended twenty-seven times since 1789, with the most recent amendment being the Twenty-seventh Amendment in 1992.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date of signing | September 17, 1787 |
| Number of delegates who signed | 39 |
| First state to ratify | Delaware, December 7, 1787 |
| Date the Constitution became official framework of the government | June 21, 1788 |
| Date of the nation's first presidential election | Monday, December 15, 1788, to Saturday, January 10, 1789 |
| Date the new government was set to begin | March 4, 1789 |
| Date the Constitution was ratified by all states | May 29, 1790 |
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What You'll Learn
The US Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787
The delegates to the Philadelphia Convention included George Washington, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, who led the lobbying efforts for votes in favor of ratifying the Constitution. The convention was tasked with revising the existing government, but the delegates ended up creating a completely new form of government. The new Constitution established a powerful central government, which was a contentious issue, as some delegates were wary of centralized power and loyal to their states.
The document was ratified through a series of state conventions held in 1787 and 1788. According to Article VII, the new government would go into effect once it was ratified by nine of the 13 existing states. Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution on December 7, 1787, and New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify on June 21, 1788. The first federal elections were held from December 15, 1788, to January 10, 1789, and the new government officially began on March 4, 1789.
The Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times since it took effect in 1789. The first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified simultaneously. The most recent amendment, the Twenty-seventh Amendment, was ratified in 1992, breaking the record for the longest time taken to complete the ratification process.
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It was ratified in 1788 and took effect in 1789
The United States Constitution has been in effect for over 230 years. It was signed on September 17, 1787, by 39 delegates, including George Washington, who was unanimously elected president of the Philadelphia convention. The signing of the document marked the end of the convention, which had been convened to revise the Articles of Confederation, America's first constitution. However, the delegates ended up creating a completely new form of government.
The new Constitution faced opposition from Anti-Federalists, who believed it created a powerful central government and lacked a bill of rights. Despite this, the Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, successfully lobbied for its ratification. The tide turned in their favour in Massachusetts, where a "vote now, amend later" compromise was reached, leading to the inclusion of the Bill of Rights.
On June 21, 1788, the Constitution became the official framework of the government of the United States when New Hampshire became the ninth of 13 states to ratify it. The first federal elections were held from December 15, 1788, to January 10, 1789, and the new government, with George Washington as President and John Adams as Vice President, took office on March 4, 1789. Thus, the Constitution took effect in 1789, and the first several Constitutional amendments, including the Bill of Rights, were proposed that year.
It is worth noting that the Constitution was not ratified by all states until May 29, 1790, when Rhode Island finally approved the document, and the Bill of Rights was not officially ratified until the end of that year.
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The Articles of Confederation were replaced by the Constitution
The Articles of Confederation, America's first constitution, was in effect from March 1, 1781, until 1789 when the present-day US Constitution was adopted. The Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Continental Congress on November 15, 1777, and served as the United States' first constitution. It established a "league of friendship" for the 13 sovereign and independent states, with each state retaining "every Power... which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States".
The Articles of Confederation gave the Confederation Congress the power to make rules and request funds from the states, but it lacked enforcement powers, the ability to regulate commerce, and the power to print money. This led to disputes over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade, threatening to tear the young country apart. The central government had little power to settle quarrels between states, and the states retained considerable power.
Recognizing the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington, among others, sought to revise and replace it with a new constitution. In May 1787, the Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia with the task of revising the existing government. The delegates, representing diverse interests and views, crafted compromises and ultimately created a powerful central government.
The new Constitution, signed on September 17, 1787, established a bicameral legislature: the House of Representatives, elected by popular vote, and the Senate, appointed by the state legislature. It also created three branches of government: the executive, legislative, and judicial, ensuring a separation of powers. The Constitution granted the federal government the power to tax individuals and regulate interstate commerce, addressing the limitations of the Articles of Confederation.
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The Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times since 1789
The United States Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, and it became the official framework of the government of the United States of America on June 21, 1788, when New Hampshire became the ninth of 13 states to ratify it. The Constitution was not ratified by all states until May 29, 1790, when Rhode Island finally approved the document, and the Bill of Rights was not ratified to become part of the Constitution until the end of the following year. The first federal elections were held from Monday, December 15, 1788, to Saturday, January 10, 1789, and the new government was set to begin on March 4, 1789, with George Washington as President and John Adams as Vice President.
Since 1789, the Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times. The first ten amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, were ratified simultaneously. The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments are known as the Reconstruction Amendments. The Twenty-seventh Amendment (1992) prevents members of Congress from granting themselves pay raises during the current session. It remained pending for over two centuries as it contained no time limit for ratification. The precedent for this practice was set in 1789, when Congress considered and proposed the first several Constitutional amendments.
In total, approximately 11,848 proposals to amend the Constitution have been introduced in Congress since 1789. Members of the House and Senate propose around 150 amendments during each two-year term of Congress. However, most of these never make it out of the Congressional committees in which they are proposed, and only a fraction of those approved receive enough support to enter the constitutional ratification process.
The process of amending the Constitution is a long and arduous one. For an amendment to become part of the Constitution, it must be ratified by a sufficient number of states. The number of states required for ratification has varied over time. In the early 20th century, Congress stipulated that an amendment must be ratified within seven years of being submitted to the states. The Supreme Court affirmed Congress's authority to set a ratification deadline in 1939 in Coleman v. Miller.
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The Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791
The United States Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, marking the end of the Philadelphia Convention, which had been convened to amend the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution was gradually ratified by the states, with New Hampshire becoming the ninth of 13 states to do so on June 21, 1788. This meant that the Constitution became the official framework of the US government. However, Rhode Island did not ratify the Constitution until May 29, 1790, and the Bill of Rights, which comprises the first ten amendments to the Constitution, was not ratified until 1791.
The Bill of Rights was influenced by the Virginia Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason, as well as English documents such as the Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, and the English Bill of Rights. It was written by James Madison, then a member of the US House of Representatives, to limit government power and protect individual liberties. Madison's changes to the Constitution were presented as a list of amendments, as several representatives objected that Congress did not have the authority to change the wording of the Constitution.
Twelve amendments were originally proposed, but only ten were ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures on December 15, 1791. These amendments defined citizens' rights in relation to the newly established government under the Constitution. They included the right to freedom of speech, religion, and the press, the right to keep and bear arms, and the right to be secure in one's person, house, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The Bill of Rights has been added to over time, with the Twenty-seventh Amendment being ratified in 1992. This amendment prevents members of Congress from granting themselves pay raises during the current session, instead requiring any raises to take effect during the next session of Congress.
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Frequently asked questions
The US Constitution has been in effect since 1789.
The US Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, by 39 delegates.
The US Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788, when New Hampshire became the ninth of 13 states to ratify it.
