History of the United States Constitution History of the United States Constitution The United States Constitution was written in 1787 during the Philadelphia Convention. The old Congress set the rules the new government followed in terms of writing and ratifying the new constitution. After ratification in eleven states, in 1789 its elected officers of government assembled in New York City, replacing the Articles of Confederation government. The original Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times. The meaning of the Constitution is interpreted and extended by judicial review in the federal courts. The original parchment copies are on display at the National Archives Building. Two alternative plans were
Amendments to the Constitution of Canada following table, many important changes were made to the constitutional structure of Canada by adding entire extra documents to the Constitution. These include orders that added provinces to Canada, such as the "British Columbia Terms of Union" and documents that altered the structure of the government of Canada, such as the "Parliament of Canada Act, 1875". For a complete list of documents added to the Constitution before 1982, see List of Canadian constitutional documents. Amending the Constitution has been a topic of much debate in contemporary Canada, and the two most comprehensive attempts to revise the document have both been