THIS CONSTITUTION replaced the Articles of Confederation, a weak federal structure that had served the colonial effort throughout the War of Independence. The Articles did not actually declare a sovereign United States, rather they assumed a "confederacy" formed for the purpose of defense of the colonies, and referred to them (for the first time) as States. The Articles were very weak, intendedonly for the purpose of coordinating the colonial effort against the British.

Soon after the close of the war it became apparent that the Articles would no longer do. If the States were to present themselves as an equal to the Great European powers, they must be able to defend themselves & to maintain standard diplomatic relationships with other nations.
During the course of the war the Continental Armies had nearly collapsed, mutinied, or starved, due to lack of coordination and various jalousies between the colonies. Such troubles had barely been held in check & only through extraordinary efforts by extraordinary people. These troubles were to continue after the war. There were constant conflicts over the navigation of rivers, over boundaries, over conflicting trade regulations between states. The states did not have a common currency & did not even agree on standards of weights and measures. The federal Congress was a weak body that did not have the power to remedy these and a long list of other ills. Meanwhile, merchants, pirates, and Navies of other nations were engaged in an effort to play one state against another for personal or national benefit. The situation was dire & threatened the continued existence of the new nation.

In 1786 representatives from Virginia, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania met in Annapolis to iron out some of these problems. Remedies to the Articles of Confederation were discussed, but no conclusions could be drawn. Those representatives who did attend did not have express authority to modify anything.
From the Annapolis Convention, James Madison of Virginia and Alexander Hamilton of New York introduced a plan for a Constitutional Convention to be held in Philadelphia the following year. An appeal was sent to each state legislature to appoint delegates for this convention. The federal Congress endorsed the plan on February 21, 1787, and the Convention assembled the following May.

The very formation of this convention was a momentous event. The finest patriots, politicians and lawyers from throughout the colonies were in attendance. Nearly every one of them had risked his head during the war. Now, each worked for the interests of their respective State. What was to prevent a state with the massive wealth of New York, or one with the overwhelming shipping power of Massachusetts, from going its own way—the other colonies be damned?
This was the essential problem, as evidenced by the recitence of certain colonies to participate (Delaware did not appoint delegates). As it turned out, the relationships forged in war, and in the Continental Congress, were just enough to hold together an alliance. That fine web of relationships was so tenuous, however, that it was decided to hold the convention in strict secrecy. The most avowed states-rights advocates, people such a Patrick Henry, were left behind in order that more willing voices might prevail in the discussion of a new, federal, power. So the convention met, on May 25, 1787, at the onset of summer heat in Philadelphia. George Washington was selected as President of the convention. Benjamin Franklin, though growing old and beginning to lose his powers of concentration, would serve as its guiding hand when crisis arose. The Convention worked in absolute secrecy, by vote of a majority of it's members. Sentries were posted around the building and windows and doors were shut up tight. This secrecy was so well enforced that even personal correspondence between the closest of friends revealed nothing of the nature of the debates.

We know about those debates today only through the carefully kept journal of James Madison, secretary of the convention. Even that journal was held secret, by order of Madison, until 60 years after the death of the last member of the convention. Most of the delegates had been instructed to modify the Articles of Confederation. But it became clear almost immediately that a much more aggressive plan was afoot. James Madison was to set the tone of the proceeding through a series of strategic proposals beginning with the move for absolute secrecy. Madison then offered the Virginia Plan, a radical proposal that would entirely replace the Articles of confederation with a strong federal structure of three entities: an Executive, a Legislature, and Judiciary branch, that would theoretically constitute a system of "checks and balances." This system would ultimately prevail though not without considerable debate and considerable compromise.
Alternative plans varied from exceedingly modest to outright radical. The New Jersey Plan would retain the Articles in fact and add only a moderate power to tax the States for national defense. The most radical proposal was offered by Hamilton of New York, who offered a federal Senate appointed for life by the state legislatures, and a President selected by that Senate. These various proposals were observed on the floor and several of them were discussed briefly for practical content. Some of the State Constitutions were also examined closely for useful features. But the Virginia Plan won out. Some of the key compromises are reflected below in the annotations to the document.

About this work

THE FINAL CONSTITUTION was sent to a Committee of Detail on September 26, after four months of very strenuous work. Washington then forwarded it to the Continental Congress, which approved the document and sent it to the States for ratification. The convention had established that the Constitution would be ratified by a simple majority of States, so that only nine of the thirteen would be needed to bring the instrument into effect. One other proviso followed the Constitution on its journey toward ratification. Many of the delegates signed only on condition that a Bill of Rights was to accompany the new Constitution as its first set of amendments. This did in fact take place and would prove to be essential to the character of the Constitution.

Each of the States would form a ratifying convention where the merits of the instrument were debated and the constitution was then voted on. A great deal of anxiety characterized these debates and indeed debate was not limited to the legislative hall. The American states had only just separated from a "great tyrannical power," and many feared that the formation of this Federal Government would result in another concentration of power—and that the familiar corruption and abuse would soon follow. Most of our modern impressions of those debates are formed by the Federalist Papers, in which the arguments in favor were presented in newspapers in New York. -ToKind

Ratification:
· Delaware, December 7, 1787
· Pennsylvania, December 12, 1787
· New Jersey, December 18, 1787
· Georgia, January 2, 1788
· Connecticut, January 9, 1788
· Massachusetts, February 6, 1788
· Maryland, April 28, 1788
· South Carolina, May 23, 1788
· New Hampshire, June 21, 1788

Ordered "in effect" March 4, 1789.

· Virginia, June 25, 1788
· New York, July 26. 1788
· North Carolina, May 23, 1789
· Rhode Island, May 29, 1790
· Vermont (shortly after admitted
as the 14th State), January 10, 1791.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Section 1 · Legislative powers, general

Section 2 · The House of Representatives; How Chosen; Qualifications; Representatives, taxes, Apportionment; Enumeration; Vacancies; Choosing officers; Impeachment.

Section 3 · The Senate; How choosen; Qualifications; President of the Senate, voting; President pro temp, officers; Power to try impeachments; Impeachment of President.

Section 4 · Senate elections, Legislative sessions.

Section 5 · Membership, quorum, ajournments, rules; Power to punish or expel; the Journal.

Section 6 · Compensation, priviledges, disqualifications.

Section 7 · Origin of revenue bills; Veto, Override, Limits; Orders, concurrent resolutions, etc.

Section 8 · Specific Powers of Congress.

Section 9 · Migration or Importation of certain persons; Habious Corpus, Bills of attainder, etc; Taxes, aportionment; No Export duty; No commercial preference; Money, Treasury, etc.; No titler Nobility; Officers not to receive presents, etc.

Section 10 · States not to excersize certain powers.

Section 1 · President, term of office, electors, qualifications, succession, compensation; Oath of office.

Section 2 · President as Commander in Chief; the cabinet; power of pardon; power to treat; nomination of certian officers.

Section 3 · President, communicates to congress, may convene and ajourn congress, receives ambassadors, executes laws, commissions officers.

Section 4 · All civil offices forfeit for certain crimes.

Section 1 · Powers, Tenure, Compensation.

Section 2 · Judicial powers enumerated; Jurisdiction of Supreme Court; appellate jurisdiction; Trial by jury, placement of trials.

Section 3 · Treason, defined, proof required, punishment for.

Section 1 · Each state to respect the laws of other states.

Section 2 · Priveledges of citizens; Extradition of fugitives.

Section 3 · Admission of new states; Power of congress over territories, other property.

Section 4 · Republican form of government guarenteed, each state to be protected.

· Amending the constitution; proviso

· Certain Debts, etc. remain valid; Supremacy of the Constitution, treaties and laws of United States; Oath to support Constitution; No religious test.

· Ratification of this Constitution.

THE FIRST TEN AMENDMENTS to the Constitution were preordained by the actions of members of the Constitutional convention, and reinforced by the ratification debates in each of the states. Though many argued that the Constitution was adequate to protect the rights of citizens through the exercise of Legislative and Judicial process, many people felt that the rights must be spelled out—as they were in many state constitutions. Several of the states made their ratification conditional upon adoption of a bill of rights.
James Madison did not feel the necessity of the measure but was urged by important friends, Thomas Jefferson included, to pursue the matter. As the man who almost single-handed brought about the Constitution, Madison perceived a potential threat to it: not implementing a Bill of Rights could result in another constitutional convention for the purpose of damaging the federal power just established. As he had done for the original convention, Madison took on the task of drafting a Bill of Rights so that he could set the tone, satisfy the demand, and preserve the effect of the original document against potential enemies. He studied bills of rights contained in various state constitutions, and bills offered by state ratifying conventions. On June 8, 1779 he offered a set of amendments to the House of Representatives. A committee compressed these into twelve amendments, ten of which were ratified by the states before the close of 1791. The other two concerned aportionment of representatives, and congressional pay. That last was ratified in 1992, as the twenty-seventh amendment.
The Bill of Rights is the most familiar and most commonly discussed portion of the US constitution.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.