What Year Was the Constitution Written?

What Year Was the Constitution Written?

The simple answer to this question is 1787; in that year, the Constitution was penned, edited, redrafted, and ratified on September 17th, 1787. However, the notion for new legislative documentation to replace Articles of Confederation - the preexisting legislation existing at the time – had been instigated years prior to 1787; inadequacies considered to be latent within text of the Articles of Confederation were deemed to foster a weak Central Government, as well as the division of the 13 States – those 2 elements were sufficient catalysts for reforming new legislature on the part of the Founding Fathers.

Explanation of the Answer to the Question: “What Year Was the Constitution Written?”

The Constitution of the United States is the structural legislative groundwork for the legislature system in use within the United States of America. The Constitution – while establishing guidelines with regard to a multitude of legal statutes – addresses the systematic legality expected amidst the interaction between the Federal Government of the United States and the citizens of the United States. The question “What Year Was the Constitution Written?” is a complex one; the reasons behind this complexity lay within the fact that Constitution was something of a work-in-progress during the last 2 decades of the 18th century.

Timeline of the Constitution of the United States

The following events theoretically paved the way for not only the inception of the Constitution of the United States, but its subsequent ratification, as well:

Mount Vernon Conference (1785)

In March of 1785, a Conference took place at Mt. Vernon, Virginia in order to discuss methods that would be undertaken with regard to the circumnavigation of the Potomac River; the Potomac River is a river that borders 2 of the original 13 states – Virginia and Maryland:

At the time, the Articles of Confederation did not express a definitive method with regard to a communal approach to landmarks bordered by multiple states, which resulted in a stifling of the nation’s ability to take advantage of the resources latent within the Potomac River

Alexander Hamilton and James Madison – noted Federalists, as well as noteworthy politicos including Benjamin Franklin and George Washington were in attendance; upon further explication of the inefficiencies within Articles of Confederation, a proposal was made to replace the document entirely

The Conference made way for the creation of the Constitution; while some may answer the question “What year was the Constitution Written” with an emphatic answer of “1787”, that answer – while true – does not provide proper acknowledgement of the importance of the Mount Vernon Conference

The Constitutional Convention (1787)

Subsequent to the discoveries made with regard to the Articles of Confederation taking place at the Mount Vernon Conference, the men in attendance were challenged with penning a new piece of legislation to replace the existing – and presumably flawed – Articles of Confederation:

The Constitutional Convention began on May 25th 1787 and ended on September 17th, 1787; on September 17th, 1787, the Constitution was ratified and adopted as the primary piece of legislature with regard to the United States of America

Over the course of the Constitutional Convention, the Constitution of the United States was edited and modified a variety of times prior to its eventual finalization

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