The Declaration of Independence. The Constitution. The Bill of Rights. America’s founding documents were the result of debates and compromises that created a new nation unlike any other. Learn more about the history and content of America’s defining documents.
13 Facts About the US Constitution
Surprising details about our nation’s founding document
Signed in 1787, the U.S. Constitution includes a preamble and seven articles that outline how the American government is organized and operates. Let’s take a closer look at its creation and test your knowledge to see how much you know about the US Constitution.
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The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were both written and signed in the same house. Flip to find out where history was made...
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Both documents were signed in the same chamber of the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia — now known as Independence Hall
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The Constitution was written and signed in 1787, but it could not go into effect until at least nine states ratified it; the ninth ratification vote came 10 months later, in 1788, from New Hampshire.
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The first state to ratify the Constitution was Delaware. Flip to learn more...
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Its nickname is “The First State,” which you see on many Delaware state license plates today.
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Rhode Island was the 13th and last state to ratify the Constitution. Flip to learn more...
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It did so in 1790, more than a year after the Constitution went into effect and George Washington had been sworn in as the first U.S. president. Rhode Island’s legislature agreed to the Constitution on the condition that it include a list of individual rights.
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The individual rights that Rhode Island and other states wanted were added in 1791 in the form of 10 amendments to the Constitution that became known as the Bill of Rights.
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The process of creating the Constitution took about three and a half months. Flip to learn more...
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The gathering that is now known as the Constitutional Convention convened on May 25, 1787. Delegates discussed and debated how a government should be formed, and agreed on the final draft on Sept. 17, 1787.
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Fifty-five delegates, representing 12 of the 13 states, attended the Constitutional Convention. Flip to learn more...
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Rhode Island sent no delegates to Philadelphia because the legislature thought that the convention would create laws that would give the federal government too much power.
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Much of what historians know about the Constitutional Convention comes from the meticulous notes taken by Virginia delegate James Madison during the meetings.
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He also drafted ideas for for the government’s structure in a document known as the Virginia Plan, which recommended that states be represented based on population and that the government have three distinct branches. Madison is therefore known as the “Father of the Constitution.”
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Early drafts of the Constitution didn’t begin with the familiar phrase “We the People of the United States.”
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It started with a long list of all the states: “We the people of the states of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island…”
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New York delegate Gouverneur Morris, who has been called the “Penman of the Constitution,” was the main editor for the document’s text, including the preamble.
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Six men signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, which were written 11 years apart: George Clymer, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, George Read, Roger Sherman, and James Wilson.
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Of the signers of the Constitution, two became president: George Washington and James Madison.
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Two other Founding Fathers who reached the presidency, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, were not delegates to the Constitutional Convention because they were abroad, serving as ambassadors: Jefferson was in France and Adams in Great Britain.
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Which 3 delegates at the convention refused to sign the Constitution?
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George Mason, Edmund Randolph, and Elbridge Gerry considered it a flawed document and wanted the Constitution to include a bill of rights to more clearly protect the rights of states and freedoms of individuals.
Little-Known Facts About the Declaration of Independence
They may not be so ‘self-evident’
The purpose of the Declaration of Independence is as clear as its name — to state why the 13 colonies had the right to break political ties with Great Britain and form their own government. But this move to independence didn’t happen overnight. Read these 16 facts about the origins of the Declaration of Independence and then test your knowledge!
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Which 3 founding fathers died on the Fourth of July?
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Our fifth president, James Monroe, died on July 4, 1831. And our second and third presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, died within a few hours of each other on July 4, 1826 — the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
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Not all members of the Continental Congress were ready to accept the Lee Resolution.
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They postponed voting on it for several weeks, but in the meantime, they appointed five men to draft a document explaining why the colonies believed they had the right to form their own government. The Committee of Five consisted of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman.
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Thomas Jefferson was 33 years old when he wrote the Declaration of Independence.
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Creating the draft reportedly took him just a day or two. Other members of the Committee of Five made a few changes, but Jefferson remained the main author.
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A famous 1818 painting by John Trumbull depicts the presentation of the draft of the Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress by the Committee of Five on June 28.
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In a letter to his wife, John Adams shared the news that the Continental Congress had declared independence from Britain.
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He wrote that the event should be forever celebrated as a national holiday with parades, games, and “Bonfires and Illuminations.” His words: “The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.”
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About 200 prints of the Declaration, called broadside editions, are believed to have been produced by printer John Dunlap on the night of July 4, 1776 (26 remain today).
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Copies were shared the following morning. The Pennsylvania Evening Post carried the full text on its front page on July 6.
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There is no singular authoritative copy of the Declaration of Independence.
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Congress ordered the iconic parchment version most Americans and historians recognize as “the” Declaration of Independence to be created on July 19, 1776. When the document was finished, it was signed by 56 members of the Continental Congress.
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Benjamin Franklin, at 70 years old, was the oldest signer. Flip to find out who the youngest was...
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Two of the signers were 26 at the time: Edward Rutledge and Thomas Lynch Jr., both representing South Carolina. Born Aug. 5, 1749, Lynch was the youngest signer of the declaration.
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After the signing ceremony in Philadelphia, the signed parchment version of the Declaration of Independence was moved often — sometimes to protect it during war, other times to preserve or display it.
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On Dec. 13, 1952, the Declaration of Independence was formally transferred to the National Archives in Washington, D.C., where it has remained.
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For some colonists, the desire to separate from Britain had been brewing for years.
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Their aspirations were formally expressed by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia on June 7, 1776, when he presented a resolution to the Second Continental Congress at the State House in Philadelphia stating that the colonies “are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.” Lee’s call to dissolve political ties with Britain, which became known as the Lee Resolution, set the stage for the declaration.
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The committee appointed John Adams and Thomas Jefferson to write the original draft of what later became known as the Declaration of Independence.
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In a letter many years later, in 1822, Adams remembered that he insisted Jefferson take the lead. Why? According to Adams, Jefferson was from Virginia, one of the most important colonies; Jefferson was better liked; and Jefferson had more talent as a writer. Adams praised Jefferson’s other documents as having a “peculiar felicity of expression.”
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His opening words asserted a common idea among European Enlightenment thinkers of the time: that “all men are created equal.” The phrase was later used to advocate for women’s right to vote and civil rights for African Americans.
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Jefferson’s draft drew on the language and ideas of several other documents, including the Virginia Declaration of Rights and his own version of a Virginia constitution.
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The Continental Congress formally assembled again on July 1 to consider the Lee Resolution for independence.
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The next day, 12 colonies voted in favor (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia). The 13th, New York, abstained at the time but declared its support for independence a week later.
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For the next two days, members of the Continental Congress discussed and modified Jefferson’s draft.
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They officially adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 — the day we recognize as our Independence Day. It became a federal national holiday in 1941.
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The Declaration of Independence was first read aloud in public on July 8, 1776, by Col. John Nixon outside the State House in Philadelphia.
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Bells in the city rang in celebration, but it is unlikely that the Liberty Bell (then known as the State House bell) tolled that day because the State House steeple was under repair.
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John Hancock, president of the Second Continental Congress, was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence, on Aug. 2, 1776.
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The delegates then added their signatures in the order of their states’ locations — north to south, New Hampshire to Georgia. The final signature came from Thomas McKean at least a year later.
How Did the Bill of Rights Come to Be?
Learn more about the history and evolution of the first 10 amendments
In U.S. history classes, Americans learn that the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution are called the Bill of Rights, which collectively guarantees individual liberties and prevents tyranny from the federal government. The First Amendment alone secures five of America’s most cherished freedoms: religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition of the government.
But these rights weren’t originally a part of the Constitution. After pressure from several states, the First Congress in 1789 voted to include them to help ensure that the document that defines how the United States is governed includes protections for individuals and limits on the federal government’s power. Get a closer look at the origins of the Bill of Rights with these facts.
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3 delegates at the Constitutional Convention — George Mason, Edmund Randolph and Elbridge Gerry, refused to sign the Constitution because it lacked protections for individual rights.
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James Madison, the principal author, originally opposed including the bill of rights, but later supported adding explicit protections for individual liberty and limits on the power of the federal government.
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He used the Virginia Declaration of Rights, written a few years earlier by a fellow Virginian and former political adversary, George Mason, as his inspiration. He penned a list of rights for Congress to review in June 1789.
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On Dec. 15, 1791, Virginia became the 11th state to ratify the Bill of Rights, making it part of the Constitution.
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In 1992, one of the two remaining originally proposed amendments were ratified by three-quarters of the states and added to the Constitution as the 27th Amendment — 203 years later.
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It prevents members of Congress from making changes to their salary during a term. The other proposed amendment, which would cap representation in the House of Representatives at 50,000 to 1, is still officially pending ratification.
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In 1939, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Georgia formally ratified the Bill of Rights, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of its passage.
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George Mason was the biggest advocate for a bill of rights out of all delegates at the Constitutional Convention. The delegate from Virginia thought individual freedoms should be included in the original Constitution.
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11 states, or three-quarters majority, are needed to ratify these amendments for them to become law.
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12 amendments were approved by Congress in 1789; the states ratified only 10 by the end of 1791.
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3 states did not ratify the Bill of Rights by 1792. Since three-quarters of the states had already ratified it, it was unnecessary for Connecticut, Georgia and Massachusetts to do so.
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The 15th of December 1941, was officially named Bill of Rights Day by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in honor of the 150th anniversary of its addition to the Constitution.
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