1787
Philadelphia delegates convened
1787 refers to the year the United States Constitution was drafted and signed in Philadelphia.
The number often appears in historical and legal contexts: the Constitution of 1787, the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
It functions as shorthand for the founding document itself or the era of American constitutional creation.
Governing principles document
- ratificationFormal approval by authority
- preamblePreliminary statement before content
- amendmentChange to official text
- Bill of RightsInitial constitutional amendments guaranteeing freedoms
federalism · separation of powers · checks and balances · bicameral · legislature · executive · judiciary · republic
Era prioritizing reason over dogma
- colonialismDomination through foreign settlement
- neoclassicismMovement emulating antiquity's forms
- rococoExcessively elaborate in style
- baroqueExcessively ornate or elaborate
Georgian · empiricism · rationalism · mercantilism · absolutism · industrialization · enclosure · inoculation
Constitution
Governing principles document
- ratificationFormal approval by authority
- preamblePreliminary statement before content
- amendmentChange to official text
Bill of Rights · federalism · separation of powers · checks and balances · bicameral · legislature · executive · judiciary · republic · framers
Enlightenment
Era prioritizing reason over dogma
- colonialismDomination through foreign settlement
- neoclassicismMovement emulating antiquity's forms
- rococoExcessively elaborate in style
baroque · Georgian · empiricism · rationalism · mercantilism · absolutism · industrialization · enclosure · inoculation · laissez-faire