September 17 marks the 226th anniversary of our nation’s founding document.
On this day in 1787, the Constitutional Convention met for the last time. After four months of meetings, delegates would now sign the document they had created and send it on to the people of the several states for ratification.
The Sun Rises on a New Form of Government
During the long summer of secret deliberations, the delegates had wrestled with differences of opinion that could have prevented settling on a final plan for government. But on the day of the signing, Benjamin Franklin summed up what had been achieved. Looking at the chair occupied by George Washington—who led the convention—he spoke of the sun image carved in the chair’s back. “It is a rising, and not a setting Sun,” he declared.
Attend the 15th annual Robert E. Henderson Constitution Day Lecture with Dr. Peter Schramm: “The Constitutional Character of Benjamin Franklin.”
Other ways to celebrate and learn about our Constitution:
Purchase copies of the Ashbrook’s Declaration of Independence and Constitution Booklet.
Explore the many resources on the Constitutional Convention offered on Ashbrook’s Teaching American History website:
- An Introduction to the Convention with an overview of the questions delegates faced;
- Detailed narratives of the events, including The Constitutional Convention as a Four Act Drama, a Day-by-Day Summary of the Convention, and a discussion of Major Themes at the Constitutional Convention,
- Biographical information on delegates to the Convention, a list of committee assignments, and a record of who attended at critical moments in the debate;
- Testimony of the attendees themselves, in the form of correspondence and James Madison’s Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787;
- An interactive version of Christy’s Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States as well as additional artistic interpretations of the Constitutional Convention;
- An Interactive Map of Historic Philadelphia in the Late 18th Century, which, along with an account of the Entertainment of George Washington at City Tavern in Philadelphia, will give readers an idea of what it meant to be one of the delegates in Philadelphia during that long steamy summer.