Thirty-nine delegates signed the United States Constitution at Independence Hall in 1787, a site associated with America250.
The signing took place on September 17, 1787, at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, the same building later called Independence Hall. The delegates had spent four months debating how to replace the weak national structure created by the Articles of Confederation.
The 39 signers represented 12 states. Rhode Island did not send delegates to the Constitutional Convention. George Washington presided over the convention, and the document was then sent to the states for ratification. The Constitution became operative after the required number of states approved it, and the new federal government began in 1789.
The number 39 is easy to confuse with the 55 delegates who attended at some point or the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. Not every convention delegate endorsed the final Constitution. Three delegates—George Mason, Edmund Randolph, and Elbridge Gerry—refused to sign, while others had already left Philadelphia.