Constitution drafted in Philadelphia

The "Constitution drafted in Philadelphia" refers to the Constitution of the United States, produced by the Constitutional Convention that met at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Fifty-five delegates from twelve states—Rhode Island sent none—convened ostensibly to revise the failing Articles of Confederation, but instead drafted an entirely new frame of government. George Washington presided; James Madison, whose detailed notes remain the principal record, is termed the "Father of the Constitution." The document was signed by thirty-nine delegates on September 17, 1787 (now commemorated as Constitution Day), and took effect after ratification by the ninth state, New Hampshire, on June 21, 1788.

The Constitution established a federal republic resting on separation of powers across three branches: a bicameral Congress (Article I), a President (Article II), and a Supreme Court and inferior courts (Article III). Its core compromises resolved the deadlock between large and small states. The Connecticut (Great) Compromise blended the Virginia Plan's population-based representation with the New Jersey Plan's equal-state representation, yielding a House apportioned by population and a Senate with two members per state. The Three-Fifths Compromise counted three of every five enslaved persons for apportionment and taxation, while the Slave Trade Clause (Article I, Section 9) barred prohibition of the Atlantic slave trade until 1808. The document embodied federalism, checks and balances, and—through Article VI—the Supremacy Clause making the Constitution the "supreme Law of the Land."

Ratification provoked the contest between Federalists, who supported the document and produced The Federalist Papers (1787–88) authored by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, and Anti-Federalists, who demanded a guarantee of individual liberties. That demand yielded the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments ratified December 15, 1791. The Constitution has since been amended twenty-seven times under the Article V process, the most recent (the Twenty-Seventh, on congressional pay) ratified in 1992. The principle of judicial review, though not textually explicit, was asserted by Chief Justice John Marshall in Marbury v. Madison (1803), establishing the courts' power to invalidate laws repugnant to the Constitution. As of 2026 it remains the oldest written national constitution still in force.

For the FSOT and US-history papers, this topic anchors questions in the American Government and US History sections of the written exam. Candidates should master the dates (1787 drafting, 1788 ratification threshold, 1791 Bill of Rights), the named plans and compromises (Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut, Three-Fifths), key personalities (Washington, Madison, Hamilton, Franklin), and the structural doctrines—separation of powers, federalism, checks and balances, and judicial review. Typical question angles ask which compromise produced the Senate, who authored The Federalist Papers, the amendment procedure of Article V, or the significance of Marbury v. Madison. Distinguishing the Constitution from the preceding Articles of Confederation, and the Declaration of Independence (1776), is a frequent discriminator on objective items.