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Introduction

A facsimile of the U.S. Constitution (Bettmann/Corbis).

It is hard to overestimate the historical importance of the U.S. Constitution. The framers of the document took the social and political philosophy of the Enlightenment and turned it into a working government that has lasted over two hundred years. Written in 1787 by a delegation of representatives from each state, the Constitution includes provisions for three branches of government, protections for the rights of individual states within the national government, and (eventually) a Bill of Rights guaranteeing certain freedoms to all citizens of the new nation. In the creation of the Constitution, the framers had created a vitally new type of government that continues to inspire political change today.

Essential Facts

1. The historical influences behind the Constitution included Aristotle, the Magna Carta, the writings of John Locke, and the English Bill of Rights from 1689.
2. The U.S. Constitution was written over a period of four months by 55 delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Some of the most influential delegates included James Madison, who is often called the “Father of the Constitution,” Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin.
3. Many compromises were needed to create the Constitution. The Great Compromise was written by Connecticut delegate Roger Sherman and called for a bicameral legislature with equal representation in the Senate and population-proportional representation in the House of Representatives.
4. The Constitution needed to be ratified by two-thirds of the original 13 states in order to go into effect. The first state to ratify was Delaware, and the last was Rhode Island.
5. Much of the controversy surrounding ratification of the Constitution concerned its lack of a Bill of Rights. One was thus introduced to Congress as a series of ten amendments to the Constitution in 1791 and included the many freedoms considered important by early (and contemporary) American citizens: freedom of speech, press, and religion.