The 1787 Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia to draft the United States Constitution.
The convention convened at the Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall. Its sessions ran from May 25 to September 17, 1787, after delegates from enough states arrived to establish a quorum. George Washington was unanimously chosen to preside over the meeting.
Delegates initially gathered to improve the Articles of Confederation, the first national governing framework. Instead, they produced an entirely new Constitution. Their debates addressed representation, executive power, federal taxation, interstate commerce, slavery, and the structure of the federal courts.
Fifty-five delegates attended at some point, although only 39 signed the final document on September 17. Rhode Island did not send delegates to the convention. Philadelphia’s Independence Hall is therefore associated both with the Constitution’s drafting and with the earlier Declaration of Independence, linking two major episodes remembered during America250.