The US Constitution

The US Constitution, ratified in 1788, is still the "supreme law of the land" in America. It outlines the structure of the United States government, and determines what powers each of these structures traditionally have.

The US Constitution divided the national government into three branches - the executive, legislative and judicial branches. The executive branch of the government is headed by the President, the legislative branch is controlled by Congress, and the judicial branch is headed by the Supreme Court. These branches and the Constitution itself were created during the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. The convention's original aim was to modify or replace the Articles of Confederation, which previously functioned as the constitution of the United States. In addition to establishing the three branches of national government and replacing the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution also gave power to state governments, creating a federal system of government.

Although the writing of the US Constitution is attributed to many authors, one of the primary authors was James Madison, who later would write the Bill of Rights. Madison's influence on the document stems from his draft of the Virginia Plan, which used a population based method to establish government representation in Congress. However, this lead to a clash between large and small states over equal representation in Congress. The Great Compromise of the Constitution combined the Virginia Plan with the New Jersey Plan, which gave each state one vote in Congress. In this compromise, Congress would be bicameral, thus creating the House of Representatives (with representation based on population) and the Senate (with two representatives from each state).

Initially, the Constitution was proposed to be ratified unanimously by the states, but the eventual agreed upon number of states required to ratify the US Constitution was nine of the thirteen. Nevertheless, all thirteen states ratified the Constitution, with Rhode Island being the final state to do so.