United States Constitution
United States Constitution
Page one of the original copy of the Constitution
Created
September 17, 1787
Ratified
June 21, 1788
Location National Archives
Authors Delegates of the Philadelphia
Convention
Signers
39 of the 55 Philadelphia
Convention delegates
Purpose National constitution to replace the
Articles of Confederation
United States of America
This article is part of the series:
United States Constitution
Original text of the Constitution
Preamble
Articles of the Constitution
I ∙ II ∙ III ∙ IV ∙ V ∙ VI ∙ VII
Amendments to the Constitution
Bill of Rights
I ∙ II ∙ III ∙ IV ∙ V
VI ∙ VII ∙ VIII ∙ IX ∙ X
Subsequent Amendments
XI ∙ XII ∙ XIII ∙ XIV ∙ XV
XVI ∙ XVII ∙ XVIII ∙ XIX ∙ XX
XXI ∙ XXII ∙ XXIII ∙ XXIV ∙ XXV
XXVI ∙ XXVII
Other countries · Law Portal
The Constitution of the United States of
America is the supreme law of the United
States. It is the foundation and source of the
legal authority underlying the existence of
the United States of America and the Federal
Government of the United States. It provides
the framework for the organization of the Un-
ited States Government. The document
defines the three main branches of the gov-
ernment: The
legislative branch with a
bicameral Congress, an executive branch led
by the President, and a judicial branch
headed by the Supreme Court. Besides
providing for
the organization of
these
branches, the Constitution carefully outlines
which powers each branch may exercise. It
also reserves numerous rights for the indi-
vidual states, thereby establishing the United
States’ federal system of government. It is
the shortest and oldest written constitution
of any major sovereign state.[1]
The United States Constitution was adop-
ted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitu-
tional Convention (or Constitutional Con-
gress)
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and
later ratified by conventions in each U.S.
state in the name of "The People"; it has
since been amended twenty-seven times, the
first ten amendments being known as the Bill
of Rights.[2][3] The