Since they had declared their independence, the Founders needed to create a new government for all the states of the new nation. They did this by creating our first constitution, known as the Articles of Confederation. The problems of the national government under the Articles of Confederation led the Founders to decide to write a new constitution.

The United States Constitution was written by the delegates who attended the Philadelphia Convention. These delegates are known as the Framers of the Constitution. The convention lasted from May to September 1787. The fifty-five Framers worked together for four months. The new Constitution they wrote has lasted more than two hundred years!

Some of the Framers were from states with large populations and some from states with small populations. Some were from the North, which had few slaves, and some from the South, where there were many slaves. These differences led to disagreements about what should be in the new Constitution.

This unit will help you understand why the Framers wrote the United States Constitution the way they did. You will read about the agreements and disagreements among the Framers. You will learn how the Framers made compromises to solve their disagreements.