Four Months in Philadelphia

The Constitutional Convention opened in Philadelphia in May 1787. Delegates had been sent to revise the Articles of Confederation, which had left the national government without the power to tax, regulate trade between the states or reliably pay its debts.

Instead of patching the Articles, the delegates drafted an entirely new framework. They argued over representation, settling on a House apportioned by population and a Senate with equal votes for each state. They debated the presidency, the courts and the limits of federal power through a long, hot summer, with the windows often shut to keep their deliberations private.

On September 17, 1787, thirty-nine delegates signed the finished document in the Assembly Room of the Pennsylvania State House — the building we now call Independence Hall. Several delegates who remained in Philadelphia declined to sign, some because the draft lacked a bill of rights.

That objection followed the Constitution into the ratification debates. Supporters, the Federalists, argued that the new government had only the powers listed and therefore could not threaten liberties it was never given authority over. Opponents, the Anti-Federalists, wanted those liberties written down.

Article V offered the path forward. It allows amendments to be proposed by two-thirds of both houses of Congress or by a convention called at the request of two-thirds of the states, and ratified by three-fourths of the states. It was designed to make change possible but deliberate.

Several state ratifying conventions approved the Constitution while recommending amendments. The First Congress answered in 1789 by sending twelve proposed amendments to the states. Ten were ratified by December 15, 1791, and became the Bill of Rights, including the Second Amendment.

Since 2004, federal law has marked September 17 as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. It is a fine day to read the document itself — it is shorter than most people expect, and every word was argued over.