Constitution Day

September 17, 1787

Alexander
Hamilton
George Washington

September 17, 2012

Ben Franklin

The American colonists fought the British during

the American Revolutionary War. The colonists
declared their independence on July 4th, 1776.
The Americans won the war in 1783.

When the United States became a country, they

faced a new problem. Their form of government
called the Articles of Confederation was weak. The
United States did not have a president, a way to
collect taxes, and a national army.
In 1787, a group of men met in Philadelphia to fix
this problem.

This meeting was called the

Constitutional Convention.

Articles of Confederation

Instead of correcting the Articles of

Confederation, the framers wrote a new set of laws
and rules for our country called the Constitution.

We the People of the United

States,
in Order to form a more
perfect Union,
establish Justice,
insure domestic Tranquility,
provide
for the common defense,
promote
the general Welfare,
and secure the
Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and
our Posterity,
do ordain and establish
this Constitution for the United
States of America.