The Constitution's Writing: A Historical Timeline

The Constitution of the United States of America is the oldest written national constitution still in use. It was written in 1787 during the Philadelphia Convention, now known as the Constitutional Convention, and was signed on September 17, 1787. The Constitution established the government of the United States and is considered a model of cooperative statesmanship and the art of compromise. It defines the principal organs of government and their jurisdictions, as well as the basic rights of citizens.

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The US Constitution is the oldest written national constitution in use

The US Constitution, signed on September 17, 1787, is the oldest written national constitution still in use. It established the government of the United States, outlining the doctrine of the separation of powers and federalism. The document was drafted in secret by delegates to the Constitutional Convention during the summer of 1787 and was ratified by the states in 1789.

While the US Constitution is the oldest written national constitution, it is not the oldest constitution in the world. The San Marino Constitution, for example, is older but is not a single written document. Instead, it is made up of multiple source documents across centuries and is considered an uncodified constitution. Similarly, the United Kingdom's constitution is largely unwritten, deriving its government from various documents, including the Magna Carta, that date back further than the US Constitution.

Other countries, such as Canada, New Zealand, and other Commonwealth countries, have constitutional provisions that are older than the US Constitution and are still in force today. Additionally, the Massachusetts state constitution was enacted in 1780, seven years before the US Constitution.

The US Constitution's longevity can be attributed to its cooperative statesmanship and art of compromise. It stands as a model of how a written constitution can be preserved through judicial review and the power to declare void any legislation contrary to it. The document has undergone changes and interpretations over time, reflecting ongoing changes in the country.

The document was drafted in 1787 by 55 delegates in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The United States Constitution, the oldest written national constitution still in use, was drafted in 1787 by 55 delegates in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The document, which was signed on September 17, 1787, established the government of the United States and continues to be the supreme law of the land.

The Constitution was written during the Philadelphia Convention, now known as the Constitutional Convention, which convened from May 25 to September 17, 1787. The delegates to the convention, which was conducted under an oath of secrecy, included George Mason, Elbridge Gerry, and Gouverneur Morris, the chief architect of the Constitution. The document was the result of long and often contentious debates over issues such as states' rights, representation, and slavery.

The delegates debated and redrafted the articles of the new Constitution throughout the summer of 1787. The chief points of contention included how much power to grant the central government, how many representatives in Congress to allow each state, and how these representatives should be elected—directly by the people or by state legislators. The delegates ultimately reached a series of compromises that established a framework for the federal government that separated powers into three branches: the legislative, consisting of the bicameral Congress; the executive, consisting of the president and subordinate officers; and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court and other federal courts.

The Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, and published in a newspaper, The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, two days later. However, it did not immediately go into effect. The document first needed to be ratified by the states, with nine states ratifying it by June 1788. The first elections under the Constitution were held later that year, and the new government commenced proceedings on March 4, 1789.

The Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787

The United States Constitution, the oldest and longest-standing written and codified national constitution in force, was signed on September 17, 1787. The four-page document was drafted in secret by 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention during the summer of 1787. The Convention was convened on May 14, 1787, in the State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to revise the Articles of Confederation. However, it soon became clear that, rather than amend the existing Articles, the Convention would draft an entirely new form of government.

The Constitution is a model of cooperative statesmanship and the art of compromise. It was the product of long and often contentious debates over issues such as states' rights, representation, and slavery. The 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 or vary depending on a state's population. Additionally, some delegates from Northern states sought to abolish slavery or make representation dependent on the size of a state's free population.

The Constitution's first three articles embody the doctrine of the separation of powers, dividing the federal government into three branches: the legislative, consisting of the bicameral Congress; the executive, consisting of the president and subordinate officers; and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court and other federal courts. The remaining articles embody concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments, the states in relation to the federal government, and the shared process of constitutional amendment.

The original signed, handwritten Constitution is at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Constitution Day, a federal observance commemorating the U.S. Constitution, is held annually on September 17.

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It was ratified by the states and is the supreme law of the land

The United States Constitution, written in 1787, is the oldest and longest-standing written and codified national constitution in force. It is also the fundamental framework of America's system of government. The Constitution was drafted in secret by 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the summer of 1787. The delegates debated and redrafted the articles of the new Constitution, which stands as a model of cooperative statesmanship and the art of compromise.

The Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, and established the government of the United States. However, it did not go into effect immediately. It needed to be ratified by the states. The first public printing of the Constitution was published in a newspaper, The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, on September 19, 1787—two days after the Constitution was signed.

The Constitution was ratified by nine states as required by Article VII, and Congress set March 4, 1789, as the date for the new government to commence proceedings. The Constitution continues to be the supreme law of the land and the fundamental law of the U.S. federal system of government. It defines the principal organs of government and their jurisdictions and the basic rights of citizens.

The Constitution separates the powers of government 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). The Constitution also sets up a system of checks and balances that ensures no one branch has too much power, and it divides power between the states and the federal government.

The Constitution was inspired by the 1755 Corsican Constitution

The United States Constitution, the oldest and longest-standing written and codified national constitution in force, was signed on September 17, 1787. It was drafted in secret by delegates to the Constitutional Convention during the summer of 1787.

The US Constitution was inspired by the 1755 Corsican Constitution, which was the first written constitution of an independent polity adopted by representatives elected by the people. The Corsican Constitution was drafted by Pasquale Paoli, who proclaimed the Corsican Republic in July 1755. Paoli was seeking independence from the Republic of Genoa, and his work inspired many American patriots. The Corsican Constitution included various Enlightenment principles, such as female suffrage, and established a legislature, the Corsican Diet, composed of over 300 members. The Diet enacted laws, regulated taxation, and determined national policy.

Pasquale Paoli was sympathetic to Italian culture and considered his native Corsican language to be an Italian dialect. He wanted Italian to be the official language of the Corsican Republic, and his constitution was written in Italian. Paoli's appeal in 1768 against a French invader reflected his Italian sympathies: "We are Corsicans by birth and sentiment, but first of all we feel Italian by language, origins, customs, traditions; and Italians are all brothers and united in the face of history and in the face of God..."

The Corsican Constitution's aspiration for independence and its democratic principles influenced the American Revolution. The New York militia, the Hearts of Oak, originally named themselves "The Corsicans", inspired by the Corsican Republic. The Corsican Crisis, which resulted in French control of the island, also influenced the American Revolutionary War, as a number of exiled Corsicans fought on the British side.

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