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
History of the Connecticut Constitution from the constitution that Mississippi had created a year earlier in 1817. After the remainder of the constitution was drafted, the convention approved the document by a two-to-one margin on September 16, 1818. The voters were given three weeks to consider the proposed constitution. A vote was held on October 5. A small majority cast their ballots in favor of the constitution, with the resolution passing 13,918 to 12,364. The ultimate vote proved the importance of requiring only a simple majority's approval, for a sixty or eighty percent requirement would not have been met. As a result of the new