May 25 1787 Constitutional convention opens at Philadelphia, George Washington presiding

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Constitution of the United States (1787)

Drafted in secret by delegates to the Constitutional Convention during the summer of 1787, this four-page document, signed on September 17, 1787, established the government of the United States.

The Federal Convention convened in the State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia on May 14, 1787, to revise the Articles of Confederation. Because the delegations from only two states were at first present, the members adjourned from day to day until a quorum of seven states was obtained on May 25.

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Mar 19, 2011 The American Revolution with Joanne B. Freeman

The American Revolution (HIST 116) In this lecture, Professor Freeman discusses how the new nation moved towards creating a stronger, more centralized national government than the Articles of Confederation. Complications of commerce between individual states - a factor that wasn't regulated by the Articles - led to a series of interstate gatherings, like the Mount Vernon Conference of March 1785. Some strong nationalists saw these meetings as an ideal opportunity to push towards revising the Articles of Confederation. Professor Freeman ends with a discussion of James Madison's preparations for the Federal Convention, and the importance of his notes in understanding the process by which delegates drafted a new Constitution.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction: The Road to the Constitutional Convention

06:07 - Chapter 2. Complications of Interstate Commerce and the Mount Vernon Conference

13:11 - Chapter 3. Nationalist Hopes to the Revise the Articles of Confederation

23:29 - Chapter 4. Madison's Historical Analyses of Republics and the Results of the Annapolis Convention

37:27 - Chapter 5. Madison's Notes on the Constitutional Convention

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Mar 19, 2011 The American Revolution with Joanne B. Freeman

The American Revolution (HIST 116) Professor Freeman discusses the national debate over the proposed Constitution, arguing that in many ways, when Americans debated its ratification, they were debating the consequences and meaning of the Revolution. Some feared that a stronger, more centralized government would trample on the rights and liberties that had been won through warfare, pushing the new nation back into tyranny, monarchy, or aristocracy. The Federalist essays represented one particularly ambitious attempt to quash Anti-Federalist criticism of the Constitution. In the end, the Anti-Federalists did have one significant victory, securing a Bill of Rights to be added after the new Constitution had been ratified by the states.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction: The Constitution was Not Inevitable

08:48 - Chapter 2. State Fears of Monarchy: Attendees of the Constitutional Convention

22:24 - Chapter 3. Initial Plans to Revise the Articles and Madison's Virginia Plan

29:11 - Chapter 4. The New Jersey Plan and Hamilton's Praise of British Governance

34:56 - Chapter 5. Debates on State Representation, Slavery, and the Executive Branch

44:44 - Chapter 6. Conclusion