Thirty-nine delegates signed the U.S. Constitution in 1787, a milestone connected to the America250 national story.
The Constitutional Convention brought delegates from twelve states to Philadelphia. Rhode Island declined to send a delegation. The convention produced a new governing document rather than merely revising the Articles of Confederation, and the final text was signed on September 17, 1787.
The 39 signers were not all the delegates who attended. Some delegates left before the final signing, and three delegates who remained—George Mason, Edmund Randolph, and Elbridge Gerry—refused to sign. The convention’s presiding officer, George Washington, signed and later became the first president under the Constitution.
This number is commonly mixed up with the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. The two documents belong to different stages of the founding era: the Declaration announced separation from Britain in 1776, while the Constitution created the federal government in 1787.