Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: James King
Taken: July 3, 2013
Caption: History of the Constitution of the United States of America
Additional Description: Following the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 our young nation continued to be enmeshed in an eight year war for independence with Great Britain, at that time the world’s most powerful land and sea force. Major hostilities ended with the British surrender at the Battle of Yorktown on October 19, 1781. Two years later, on September 3, 1783, Great Britain formally recognized the Colonists’ independence with the signing of the Treaty of Paris and war officially ended.

The time was now ripe for this newly independent nation to convene a Constitutional Convention of the 13 original colonies. It was held from May 25 to September 17, 1787 in the city of Philadelphia to revise the unwieldy Articles of Confederation and to draft a new document which would set forth how the young nation would be governed. The document was subsequently ratified and adopted on June 21, 1788 with the approval of New Hampshire and became officially The Constitution of the United States of America
From that day forward, it has been the Supreme Law of the Land.

(The preamble and a description of the Articles of the Constitution, The Bill of Rights and several other of the Amendments follows. Click on photo to enlarge and to read the text or follow the link on this page to the National Archives site.)
Submitted: August 13, 2013, by James King of San Miguel, California.
Database Locator Identification Number: p250424
File Size: 2.622 Megabytes

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