1776 - The Constitution of the United States Adopted by the Constitutional Convention

The Constitution adopted by the Convention on September 17,
1787, was signed by all but three delegates and ultimately ratified by
all 13 states. The “Connecticut Compromise” basing representation in
the House on population and providing each state equal votes in the
Senate is embodied in Article I, Sections 2 and 3. The Brearley
Committee can take credit for most of Article II, which creates the
electoral college, defines the powers of the presidency, and provides
for impeachment proceedings. An independent judiciary is created in
Article III, although no mention is made of the power of judges to
declare laws unconstitutional; the delegates regarded that power to be
understood in the wake of Judge Brearley’s Holmes v. Walton decision
and similar cases in other states.

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.