The 1787 Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Delegates gathered at the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall, from May 25 to September 17, 1787. The meeting had initially been called to revise the Articles of Confederation, the country’s first governing framework, but the delegates ultimately drafted an entirely new Constitution.
Philadelphia was already central to the revolutionary era. The Second Continental Congress had met there, and the Declaration of Independence had been adopted in the same building in 1776. That connection makes the city especially important to America250 commemorations.
The convention’s debates addressed representation, federal powers, taxation, commerce, and slavery. The resulting Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, and later ratified by the states. Independence Hall is therefore associated with both the Declaration and the creation of the federal constitutional system.