The 1787 Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia.
Delegates gathered in the Pennsylvania State House, now called Independence Hall, from May 25 through September 17, 1787. The meeting was initially intended to address weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation, but the delegates ultimately produced an entirely new constitutional framework.
George Washington presided over the convention. The delegates debated representation, executive power, taxation, commerce, and the relationship between state and federal authority. Their work resulted in the Constitution of the United States, which was signed at the same building on September 17.
Philadelphia had already been central to the independence movement: the Continental Congress met there and adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776. That combination of revolutionary and constitutional history makes Philadelphia especially important to the story remembered by America250.