Constitutional Convention

American  

noun

1. the convention in Philadelphia (1787) of representatives from each of the former Colonies, except Rhode Island, at which the Constitution of the United States was framed.

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Constitutional Convention Cultural  

1. The gathering that drafted the Constitution of the United States in 1787; all states were invited to send delegates. The convention, meeting in Philadelphia, designed a government with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches. It established Congress as a lawmaking body with two houses: each state is given two representatives in the Senate, whereas representation in the House of Representatives is based on population.

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Example Sentences

When the Constitutional Convention concluded on Sept. 17, 1787, its president, George Washington, bought a four-volume edition of “Don Quixote” from a Philadelphia bookseller to bring home to Mount Vernon.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026

Benjamin Franklin, when asked what kind of government had been delivered to the new republic after the 1787 Constitutional Convention, offered a timeless warning: “A republic, if you can keep it.”

From Barron's • Oct. 24, 2025

Benjamin Franklin urged the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, albeit unsuccessfully, to declare that “the state has the right to discourage large concentrations of property as a danger to the happiness of mankind.”

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 22, 2024

I am currently writing a book called Fathers of the Constitution, and my argument is that two now-nearly-forgotten delegates, James Wilson and Gouverneur Morris, had greater success than Madison at the Constitutional Convention.

From Slate • Aug. 7, 2024

Moreover, there was an even more elemental understanding implicitly codified in Philadelphia but actually predating the Constitutional Convention by many years.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis