Simone Lawson
The Founding Fathers of the United States of America created the Constitution in 1787. The Founding Fathers were a group of delegates or statesmen who wanted to set up a fair and balanced government for the new country. The Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, by 38 delegates, with George Reed signing on behalf of John Dickinson of Delaware, bringing the total number of signatures to 39. The Founding Fathers included George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and Benjamin Franklin. They created the Constitution to establish the three branches of the U.S. government and protect the rights of American citizens.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Year created | 1787 |
| Date signed | 17th of September |
| Number of signatures | 39 |
| Number of delegates | 55 |
| Number of amendments | 27 |
| First 10 amendments | The Bill of Rights |
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What You'll Learn
The Founding Fathers
The term "Founding Fathers" was popularized by Warren G. Harding, and it was used throughout the 19th century by several US presidents, including Martin Van Buren, James Polk, Abraham Lincoln, and William McKinley. Ronald Reagan also referred to the "Founding Fathers" at both his inaugurations in 1981 and 1985. The term is now commonly used to refer to the creators of the US Constitution.
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The Articles of Confederation
The founding fathers of the United States of America were concerned about the Articles of Confederation just a few years after the Revolutionary War. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington feared their young country was on the brink of collapse. America's first constitution, 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. The states’ disputes over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade threatened to tear the young country apart.
The final draft of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was completed on November 15, 1777. Consensus was achieved by including language guaranteeing that each state retained its sovereignty, leaving the matter of western land claims in the hands of the individual states, including language stating that votes in Congress would be en bloc by state, and establishing a unicameral legislature with limited and clearly delineated powers. The Articles of Confederation was submitted to the states for ratification in late November 1777. The first state to ratify was Virginia on December 16, 1777; 12 states had ratified the Articles by February 1779, 14 months into the process. The lone holdout, Maryland, refused to go along until the landed states, especially Virginia, had indicated they were prepared to cede their claims west of the Ohio River to the Union. Maryland finally ratified the Articles on February 2, 1781. Congress was informed of Maryland's assent on March 1, and officially proclaimed the Articles of Confederation to be the law of the land.
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The Constitutional Convention
Fearing that their young country was on the brink of collapse due to disputes over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade, Alexander Hamilton helped convince Congress to organize this convention of state delegates to work on a revision. The delegates, or Founding Fathers, came together to create a powerful central government, representing a wide range of interests and views, and crafted compromises to form the framework of the Federal Government of the United States.
The Founding Fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, understood that the Constitution should be able to change and grow over time, so they included a system of amendments. They divided power into three separate branches—the legislature, the executive, and the judicial—to prevent the misuse of power and to encourage the branches to work together.
On September 17, 1787, 38 delegates signed the Constitution, with George Reed signing on behalf of John Dickinson of Delaware, bringing the total number of signatures to 39. Ratification by 9 of the 13 states enacted the new government. The Founding Fathers set the terms for ratifying the Constitution, bypassing the state legislatures and calling for special ratifying conventions in each state.
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The signing of the Constitution
The Founding Fathers of the United States of America signed the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787. This date is now celebrated annually as Constitution Day. The Constitution established the three branches of the U.S. government and outlined the rights of American citizens, which include freedom of speech, religion, and the press.
The Founding Fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, came together to create the Constitution due to concerns about the Articles of Confederation, which were considered too weak and ineffective. The Articles of Confederation gave the Confederation Congress the power to make rules and request funds from the states, but it lacked enforcement powers and could not regulate commerce or print money. The states' disputes over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade threatened to tear the young nation apart.
The Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia in May 1787, and 38 delegates signed the Constitution in September. George Reed signed for John Dickinson of Delaware, who was absent, bringing the total number of signatures to 39. The delegates represented a wide range of interests and views, and they crafted compromises to create a powerful central government while remaining wary of centralized power and loyal to their states.
The Founding Fathers understood that the Constitution should be able to change and grow over time, so they included a process for amending it. Amendments to the Constitution are difficult to make and require the approval of two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate or two-thirds of the states. In over 200 years, the Constitution has only been amended 27 times. The first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, outline the fundamental rights of citizens.
The Founding Fathers' vision for the Constitution was to create a fair and balanced government that would protect the liberties of its citizens. They wanted to make it difficult for one person, party, or group to gain control of the government, so they established a separation of powers between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
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Amendments to the Constitution
The founding fathers created the initial Constitution in 1787, and it was signed on September 17, 1787, by 38 delegates, with George Reed signing on behalf of John Dickinson of Delaware, bringing the total number of signatures to 39. The Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788.
The Constitution has been amended 27 times since it was first enacted. The first 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified on December 15, 1791. The process of amending the Constitution is outlined in Article Five, which requires that amendments be properly proposed and ratified before becoming operative. Amendments can be proposed and sent to the states for ratification by the U.S. Congress if a two-thirds majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives deem it necessary. Alternatively, a national convention called by Congress for this purpose on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states can also propose amendments. However, this option has never been used.
To become part of the Constitution, an amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of the states. The Twenty-first Amendment, ratified in 1933, is the only amendment to be ratified through this method. It repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, which had established the prohibition of alcohol.
Since 1789, approximately 11,848 proposals to amend the Constitution have been introduced in Congress. Members of the House and Senate typically propose around 200 amendments during each two-year term of Congress. However, most of these proposals die in congressional committees, and only about 20 proposed amendments have received a vote in recent years.
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Frequently asked questions
The Founding Fathers signed the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787.
The Founding Fathers were a group of delegates or statesmen who played key roles in securing American independence from Great Britain and in the creation of the government of the United States of America. Some of the Founding Fathers include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and Benjamin Franklin.
The Constitution defines the framework of the Federal Government of the United States. It established the three branches of the government and protects the rights of each American citizen.
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