On 17 September 1787, the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF - TopicsExpress



          

On 17 September 1787, the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA was signed by delegates from twelve states present at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The CONSTITUTION replaced the earlier Articles of Confederation, which had established a loose alliance of U.S. states but which failed, among other things, to provide a way for Congress to raise taxes or pay bills. On 25 May 1787, delegates representing every state except Rhode Island convened at Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania State House for the Constitutional Convention. The building, which is now known as INDEPENDENCE HALL, had earlier seen the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the signing of the Articles of Confederation. Revolutionary War hero GEORGE WASHINGTON, a delegate from Virginia, was elected convention president. During an intensive debate that lasted almost 4 months, the delegates devised a brilliant federal organization consisting of three branches of government - Executive, Legislative, and Judicial - with an intricate system of checks and balances between each. With states divided over the issue of state representation in Congress, with more-populated states promoting proportional legislation and smaller states demanding equal representation, the delegates created a bicameral legislature with proportional representation in the lower house (House of Representatives) and equal representation of the states in the upper house (Senate). As dictated by Article VII, the document would not become binding until it was ratified by nine of the 13 states. Furthermore, the delegates agreed to amend the document with a BILL OF RIGHTS as soon as it was ratified. On 21 June 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document, and it was subsequently agreed that government under the U.S. Constitution would begin on 4 March 1789. On 29 May 1790, Rhode Island voted by two votes to ratify the document, and the last of the original 13 colonies joined the United States. The CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - the oldest and also the shortest written constitution in history that is still in use today - has gone on to influence the constitutions of scores of other nations around the world.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:24:18 +0000

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