The 1787 Constitutional Convention, a key event in the history celebrated by America250, was held in Philadelphia.
Delegates met from May 25 to September 17, 1787, at the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall. The convention was initially called to revise the Articles of Confederation, but delegates ultimately drafted an entirely new Constitution.
Philadelphia was already central to the revolutionary movement. The Continental Congress had met there, and the Declaration of Independence had been debated and adopted in the same building in 1776.
The convention’s delegates included George Washington, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton. The resulting Constitution created a stronger federal government, but it did not take effect immediately; nine states had to ratify it before it became operative in 1789.