U.S. Constitution Primer

Balancing the rights of the federal government, the states, and individuals

by Shmuel Ross

U.S. Constitution Quizzes The Legislative Branch (Article I) The Excutive and Judicial Branches (Articles II and III) States, Amendments, Ratification (Articles IV–VII) Amendments 1–10 (the Bill of Rights) Amendments 11–27 Other U.S. Documents The Mayflower Compact The Declaration of Independence The Monroe Doctrine The Pledge of Allegiance

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.

So begins the Constitution of the United States, written in 1787 to replace the nation's first guiding document, the 1777 Articles of Confederation. The Federalists had been clamoring for a stronger central government, and the Constitution was designed to provide this while balancing it with the rights of individual states—both large and small—and individual citizens. To meet all these requirements, it set up a bicameral legislature and independent judicial and executive branches. Much of this had been proposed by James Madison in his Virginia Plan earlier that year.

The Constitution was signed on September 17—now known as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day—and was submitted to the states for ratification. Over the course of the following three years, it was ratified by all thirteen states then existing. The first ten amendments—the Bill of Rights—were added by the first Congress and ratified in 1791, to more explicitly safeguard individual rights.

The Constitution of the United States of America

• Introduction | Encyclopedia Article
• The Preamble | Commentary
• The Articles: I II III IV V VI VII | Commentary
• The Amendments | Commentary
• Signers of the Constitution
• Glossary of Constitutional Terms

Writing and Ratification of the Constitution

• The Continental Congress
• The Constitutional Convention
• The Federalist Papers | About the Federalists
• The Anti-Federalists
• Anti-Federalist Writings
• Ratification by the States

Precursors to the Constitution

• The Magna Carta (1215) | Encyclopedia Article
• The Mayflower Compact (Nov. 21, 1620) | Encyclopedia Article
• The Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) | Encyclopedia Article
• The Articles of Confederation (Adopted Nov 15, 1777) | Encyclopedia Article
• The Virginia Plan (May 29, 1787)

Celebrating the Constitution

• Constitution Day and Citizenship Day

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Ratification by the States

The draft (originally a preamble and seven Articles) was submitted to all thirteen states and was to become effective when ratified by nine states. It went into effect on the first Wednesday in March 1789, having been ratified by New Hampshire, the ninth state to approve, on June 21, 1788. The states ratified the Constitution in the following order:

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