When Was the Constitution Written?

The date of the writing of the Constitution and its writing and the process under which it was approved are key facts in American history.

The Constitution of the United States of America, informally known throughout the United States as simply “The Constitution,” is the primary list of the most fundamental laws observed in the United States of America. The document was written in 1787 to replace an earlier document, The Articles of Confederation.

To this day, the Constitution is the most important book of laws in the United States of America, setting forth the most basic premises of American democracy. However, it has its roots in much earlier laws determined by the colonies that would end up becoming the United States.

Establishing a National Government

In 1776, following the Declaration of Independence, a Continental Congress was set up to determine a set of guidelines that would bind the federation of states that were enjoying a great amount of independence into a much more formal union. The draft of this document, which was called the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was sent to states over a year later in November of 1777.

It was up to the states to ratify these documents to ensure complete cooperation of each individual state in forming together a union that would protect the states against invading forces and provide them with common benefits.

Following a full year of debate, the Articles of Confederation were finally ratified in York, Pennsylvania in November of 1777. These articles were an early version of what would eventually become the Constitution.

They established foreign policy, equality of the states, and even the name by which all citizens would know the new nation—The United States of America. The United States was established as a sovereign nation, which would be perpetual, meaning a state could only secede with the agreement of all of the other states.

Devising the Constitution

James Madison, among other Americans, thought it was apparent by the 1780s that the Articles of Confederation were too weak in establishing the bonds that would tie the individual states together. He proposed a stronger central government that would establish the necessary stability for a burgeoning nation.

Once America gained its freedom from the British, the Articles of Confederation were due for an update. In September of 1786, Madison met with Alexander Hamilton and several others in a formal effort to call the states of the union to convene.

A Philadelphia convention met in 1787 to formally revise the articles, and the first steps were made toward a nationally recognized Constitution that would be the supreme law of the United States against which all other laws would be judged.

This new plan of government gave the states two decades to determine how to resolve the issue of slavery. Unfortunately, the failure of the states to do so resulted in the Civil War. The Constitution was written in 1787, afterwhich it was up to the states to ratify the provisions.

Constitution Ratified

Finally, the new proposal was submitted to the states for ratification. While the loose federation of states was solidified into a federal government which protected the interests of the state and the individual, the process was difficult. Federalists and anti-federalists clashed in many states, calling into question the strength of the agreement.

Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut all ratified the constitution by 1788, but other crucial states such as Massachusetts were still hanging in the balance. Nine states were needed for final ratification.

A Bill of Rights, which could build on the original constitution, was included as a necessary addition to the constitution so that the proposal had a better chance to be accepted by all of the states. As it turned out, the addition of amendments to the Constitution was just the push that many states, including New Hampshire, needed in order for the Constitution to gain the momentum necessary to be effected by law.

The constitution, which had been written years earlier, finally went into effect in March of 1789, with enough support from the states due to the ten amendments to warrant its acceptance by the nation at large.