United States Constitutional Convention

The Constitutional Convention of 1787, also known as the Federal Convention of 1787, was the meeting at which the Constitution of the United States was debated and agreed upon. The Constitutional Convention convened on May 25, 1787, in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the Declaration of Independence had been adopted eleven years earlier, on July 4, 1776. Although meeting to amend the Articles of Confederation, over the summer they created a new, more centralized form of government. The new document, the Constitution, was completed September 17, 1787, and was officially adopted March 4, 1789.

The federal government under the Articles of Confederation was extremely weak. The powers granted by the Confederation were few, and even those were ignored by states jealously guarding their own sovereignty. One area in which the federal government's powers were lacking was commerce. In 1786, delegates were appointed by nine of the thirteen states to attend a conference at Annapolis, Maryland. Only delegates from Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York attended, so the conference was unable to recommend amendments to the Articles of Confederation. Those who did attend, however, proposed a much broader convention to address the problems inherent in the Articles of Confederation.

On February 21, 1787, Congress resolved: "it is expedient that on the second Monday in May next a Convention of delegates who shall have been appointed by the several States be held at Philladelphia for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation." On the appointed day, May 14, few representatives were present. The Convention only obtained a quorum—delegates of seven states—on May 25.