Constitution Drafted: Philadelphia Delegates Forge New Republic

Fifty-five delegates arrived at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia during May 1787, ostensibly to revise the Articles of Confederation. Within days, they scrapped the agenda entirely and began designing an entirely new system of government. The Constitutional Convention, which met in secret behind locked doors and shuttered windows through the summer heat, produced the document that has governed the United States for over two centuries. The Articles of Confederation, ratified in 1781, had created a national government so weak it could not levy taxes, regulate commerce, or enforce its own laws. States printed their own currencies, imposed tariffs on each other's goods, and ignored congressional requests for revenue. Shays' Rebellion in Massachusetts during 1786, where armed farmers shut down courthouses to prevent debt collections, convinced many political leaders that the existing system was failing. The convention's debates centered on representation. Large states wanted congressional seats based on population. Small states demanded equal representation for every state. The resulting Connecticut Compromise created a bicameral legislature with a population-based House and an equal-representation Senate. The question of slavery produced the Three-Fifths Compromise, counting enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for apportionment purposes, a moral stain embedded in the constitutional framework. James Madison arrived with a detailed plan for a new government and took meticulous notes throughout the proceedings. George Washington's presence as convention president lent the gathering legitimacy. Benjamin Franklin, at eighty-one the oldest delegate, provided diplomatic wisdom during contentious moments. The document they produced, signed on September 17, 1787, created a federal system with separated powers that balanced centralized authority against state sovereignty. Ratification required fierce political battles in several states and the promise of a Bill of Rights.