Jonah Patel
America's Constitution, which came into force in 1789, was not the country's first. The Articles of Confederation, ratified in 1781, was the first American constitution. However, it was short-lived and superseded by the Constitution. The first written constitution of an independent polity which was adopted by representatives elected by the people was the 1755 Corsican Constitution.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| First constitution | Articles of Confederation |
| Date of first constitution | 1777 |
| Date of first constitution's ratification | 1781 |
| Date of current constitution | 1789 |
| First written constitution of an independent polity | 1755 Corsican Constitution |
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What You'll Learn
The Articles of Confederation was the first American constitution
The Articles of Confederation was superseded by the Constitution of the United States on 4 March 1789. The Constitution was written during the summer of 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by 55 delegates to a Constitutional Convention that was called ostensibly to amend the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution was the product of political compromise after long and often rancorous debates over issues such as states' rights, representation, and slavery.
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The US Constitution superseded the Articles of Confederation
The US Constitution was not the first constitution of the United States. The Articles of Confederation, the country's first written constitution, was sent to the 13 states for consideration on 17 November 1777. It was superseded by the US Constitution on 4 March 1789.
The Articles of Confederation formed a war-time confederation of states, with an extremely limited central government. It gave the Confederation Congress the power to make rules and request funds from the states, but it had no enforcement powers, couldn't regulate commerce, or print money. The states' disputes over territory, war pensions, taxation and trade threatened to tear the young country apart.
The US Constitution was written during the summer of 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by 55 delegates to a Constitutional Convention that was called ostensibly to amend the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution was the product of political compromise after long and often rancorous debates over issues such as states' rights, representation, and slavery. Delegates from small and large states disagreed over whether the number of representatives in the new federal legislature should be the same for each state—as was the case under the Articles of Confederation—or different depending on a state's population.
The US Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. The Constitution's first three articles embody the doctrine of the separation of powers, in which the federal government is divided into three branches: the legislative, consisting of the bicameral Congress (Article I); the executive, consisting of the president and subordinate officers (Article II); and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court and other federal courts (Article III).
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The US Constitution was written in 1787
The US Constitution superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. The Articles of Confederation were sent to the 13 states for consideration in 1777, but they didn't last a decade. The Articles formed a war-time confederation of states, with an extremely limited central government. The document made official some of the procedures used by the Congress to conduct business, but many of the delegates realised the Articles had limitations.
The US Constitution was not the first written constitution in the world. The first written constitution of an independent polity which was adopted by representatives elected by the people was the 1755 Corsican Constitution, drafted by Pasquale Paoli. Earlier written constitutions of independent states exist but were not adopted by bodies elected by the people, such as the Swedish Constitution of 1772, adopted by the king, and the Constitution of San Marino of 1600, which is the oldest surviving constitution in the world.
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The US Constitution was signed in 1787
The first written constitution of an independent polity which was adopted by representatives elected by the people was the 1755 Corsican Constitution, drafted by Pasquale Paoli. Earlier written constitutions of independent states exist, such as the Swedish Constitution of 1772 and the Constitution of San Marino of 1600, the oldest surviving constitution in the world, but these were not adopted by bodies elected by the people.
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The US Constitution was the first written constitution of an independent polity
The US Constitution was not the first written constitution of an independent polity. The US Constitution superseded the Articles of Confederation, which was the first constitution of the United States. The Articles of Confederation were sent to the 13 states for consideration in 1777, but they lasted less than a decade. The US Constitution was written in 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by 55 delegates to a Constitutional Convention. The first written constitution of an independent polity was the 1755 Corsican Constitution, drafted by Pasquale Paoli, which inspired many American patriots.
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Frequently asked questions
No, America's first constitution was the Articles of Confederation, ratified in 1781. The current Constitution superseded this in 1789.
The 1755 Corsican Constitution, drafted by Pasquale Paoli, was the first written constitution of an independent polity.
The Articles of Confederation gave the Confederation Congress the power to make rules and request funds from the states, but it had no enforcement powers, couldn't regulate commerce, or print money.
