Jonah Patel
The US Constitution was written by 55 delegates from 12 states (Rhode Island did not participate) during the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 25 to September 17, 1787. The delegates were appointed by state legislatures to suggest changes to the Articles of Confederation. The primary authors of the Constitution were James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, who wrote the Federalist Papers to build public support for the Constitution. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Roger Sherman were also key players in the creation of the Constitution.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of authors | 55 |
| Number of authors commonly referenced | 5 |
| Commonly referenced authors | James Madison, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay |
| Committee of Detail members | John Rutledge, Edmund Randolph, Nathaniel Gorham, Oliver Ellsworth, James Wilson |
| Committee of Detail responsibilities | Drafting the Constitution's framework |
| Committee of Eleven (Grand Committee) | Appointed on July 2, proposed a solution to an impasse over representation in the House and Senate |
| Committee of Eleven (Committee on Postponed Parts) | Appointed on August 31 to address questions left unresolved by the Convention |
| Committee on Style and Arrangement | Proposed the language for the version of the Constitution signed by the delegates |
| Key contributors | William Paterson, Roger Sherman, George Mason |
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What You'll Learn
- James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay were the primary authors
- George Washington was unanimously elected president of the convention
- Madison, Hamilton, and Jay wrote the Federalist Papers to build public support
- The Committee of Detail drafted the Constitution's framework
- The Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation
James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay were the primary authors
Madison, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and the Continental Congress, was a strong advocate for a central government to provide order and stability. He proposed a two-house Congress, with one house being small, deliberative, and independent from the larger, more democratic house. This became the Senate. Madison also contributed to the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was the first step towards independence and the Constitution.
Hamilton, a military captain during the War of Independence, was a member of the Constitutional Convention and the first Secretary of the Treasury. He was a master of controversial writing and recruited Jay and Madison to help write a series of essays to sway public opinion towards ratification of the Constitution. This series of 85 essays became known as the Federalist Papers, written under the pseudonym "Publius".
John Jay, a proponent of strong centralized government, was the first Chief Justice of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1795. He wrote five of the Federalist Papers, including the well-known "Federalist Number 10", which argued that private rights and public goods would be best protected in a large republic rather than a mélange of small republics.
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George Washington was unanimously elected president of the convention
George Washington was unanimously elected president of the Philadelphia Convention, also known as the Federal Convention or the Grand Convention at Philadelphia, on May 25, 1787. The convention was held to revise the Articles of Confederation, which had been in place since the United States gained independence from Great Britain. The delegates, including Washington, sought to create a new government and address the problems that had arisen under the existing form of government.
Washington's presence at the convention was highly significant. He was a towering figure in American politics, and his support for the convention helped calm anxieties about the future of the young nation. Washington's honor and patriotism were also influential in shaping the office of the presidency. He believed in the need for a stronger federal government and was satisfied with the idea of the Constitution as a document that could be amended over time.
The convention was attended by other notable figures, including James Madison of Virginia, who proposed the creation of a Senate as a small, deliberative, and independent body to counter the popular influence in the national government. Another attendee was Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, an 81-year-old polymath who was a printer, storekeeper, publisher, scientist, public official, philosopher, diplomat, and ladies' man. Alexander Hamilton of New York, a brilliant, ambitious former aide-de-camp and secretary to Washington during the Revolution, was also present.
The convention resulted in the crafting of the United States Constitution, which established the structure and powers of Congress, including the characteristics of the Senate. The delegates debated and compromised on issues such as representation, the number of senators per state, qualifications for office, terms of service, and the powers exercised by the Senate. The convention also addressed the right of suffrage, recognizing it as a fundamental article of republican government and establishing it within the Constitution.
The delegates worked in committees to develop the plan for the new government. A Committee of Detail produced a draft Constitution, and a Committee on Style and Arrangement proposed the language for the final version signed by the delegates on September 17, 1787. The convention's historic outcome was the creation of a centralized federal government, and the Constitution was subsequently ratified by the required nine out of thirteen states by June 1789. Every state ratified the Constitution by May 29, 1790.
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Madison, Hamilton, and Jay wrote the Federalist Papers to build public support
The Federalist Papers were a series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius". The essays were written and published between October 1787 and May 1788 to urge New Yorkers to support and ratify the proposed United States Constitution. The Federalist Papers were written in response to a series of essays signed "Cato", which criticised the new Constitution.
Hamilton, Madison, and Jay published the essays in two volumes in the New York newspapers The Independent Journal, the New-York Packet, and the Daily Advertiser. At times, three to four new essays were published in a single week. The authors chose to publish under a pseudonym, referencing Publius Valerius Publicola, the founder of the Roman Republic. This was common practice in the 18th century, especially for newspapers and magazines, and pen names drawn from classical history were fashionable.
The Federalist Papers explain particular provisions of the Constitution in detail and, because Hamilton and Madison were each members of the Constitutional Convention, they are often used today to interpret the intentions of those who drafted the Constitution. The essays probed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and the need for a stronger national government. Thomas Jefferson later called the Federalist Papers the "best commentary on the principles of government ever written".
The Federalist Papers were written in response to the Constitutional Convention, which took place in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. The delegates presented a Constitution that proposed a much stronger federal government than many citizens had expected, and opposition to the new Constitution was immediate and fierce. Hamilton and other supporters of the Constitution, known as Federalists, realised that a failure to ratify the Constitution would be a disastrous setback for the fragile new union of former colonies. Madison, too, believed that a strong central government was necessary to provide order and stability.
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The Committee of Detail drafted the Constitution's framework
The Committee of Detail was a committee established by the United States Constitutional Convention on July 24, 1787, to produce a draft text reflecting the agreements made by the convention up to that point, including the Virginia Plan's 15 resolutions. The committee was chaired by John Rutledge, with other members including Edmund Randolph, Oliver Ellsworth, James Wilson, and Nathaniel Gorham. The committee disproportionately favored the larger states but was geographically diverse.
The committee's work has been described as "the most important single undertaking of the summer," requiring "precision where agreement was clear, equivocation where it had been elusive." The committee had to address missing parts, dispel ambiguities, and knit the whole thing into a coherent document. They referenced state constitutions, the Articles of Confederation, plans submitted to the convention, and other available material. The Declaration of Independence acted as an important guide, as did the writings of European political philosophers such as Montesquieu and John Locke.
The committee's draft included a four-year citizenship requirement for senators, which was longer than the proposed requirement for House members. It also added a clause allowing the Senate to choose its officers, which did not elicit any debate. On August 6, 1787, John Rutledge delivered the committee's report in the form of a printed draft of the proposed federal constitution. The committee's draft also included Article IX, section 1, which stated: "The Senate of the United States shall have power to make treaties, and to appoint Ambassadors, and Judges of the Supreme Court." Several delegates opposed granting the Senate sole control over treaty-making, while others wanted the entire legislature involved.
The committee's draft served as the basis for further discussion and revisions, with GW and Jackson entering changes into the draft until September 3. The Committee on Style and Arrangement was then appointed on September 8 to complete a final draft of the Constitution, which was signed by the delegates on September 17.
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The Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation
The Constitution of the United States replaced the Articles of Confederation, which was the first constitution of the newly independent nation. The Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Continental Congress on November 15, 1777, and established a "league of friendship" for the 13 independent states. Each state retained "every Power...which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States", and the central government was left with limited powers.
The Articles of Confederation created a unicameral legislature with limited powers. The legislative body was a single body appointed by the state legislatures, and each state was granted a singular vote. The central government was not granted the power to tax, and instead had to request money from the states, which it had little power to enforce. This meant that the central government could not raise funds to pay debts or fund essential functions such as supporting the military and paying Congress.
The limitations of the central government under the Articles of Confederation became apparent as the Confederation Congress attempted to govern the growing number of states. The government's weaknesses were especially highlighted after Shays's Rebellion in 1786, which revealed that the federal government did not have the funds or military power to address internal rebellions. The Jay-Gardoqui Treaty with Spain in the same year also demonstrated the government's weakness in foreign policy, as it agreed to give up rights to use the Mississippi River for 25 years, which would have economically harmed settlers west of the Appalachian Mountains.
In response to these issues, a Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia in May 1787 to address the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation. The delegates quickly agreed that the defects in the government could not be remedied by altering the Articles, and so they went beyond their mandate by authoring a new constitution. The Constitution established three branches of government: the executive, legislative, and judicial. This separation of powers ensured that power would not be concentrated in one particular branch. The Constitution also gave the federal government more power over money and taxes, allowing it to control interstate commerce and granting it the power to tax individuals.
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Frequently asked questions
The US Constitution was written by 55 delegates from 12 states at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 25 to September 17, 1787.
George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Benjamin Franklin are often credited with writing the Constitution. Other key players include Roger Sherman, William Paterson, George Mason, and John Jay.
Each of these men had specific ideas about the role of government in the new nation, and parts of each individual's ideas were incorporated into the final document. Washington, for example, wanted a stronger union and was concerned about the power being given to the federal government. Madison, on the other hand, wanted a strong central government to provide order and stability.
The Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation, which were responsible for the legal process in the United States. The Constitution established the structure and powers of Congress and created a stronger central government.
Many of these men were also involved in writing the Federalist Papers, a series of 85 essays that probed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and argued for a stronger national government. Madison, Hamilton, and Jay are credited as the primary authors of these papers.
