“Philadelphia is a good city in which to write American history.“

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

Happy Constitution Day! Today’s the day when we celebrate the signing of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787!

The Constitution acted like a colossal merger, uniting a group of states with different interests, laws, and cultures. Under America’s first national  government, the Articles of Confederation, the states acted together only for specific purposes. The Constitution united its citizens as members of a whole, vesting the power of the union in the people. Without it, the American Experiment might have ended as quickly as it had begun.

The National Archives is home to the Constitution, as well as the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. Today is a great day to brush up on your Charters of Freedom history, or to learn something new about America’s founding documents. Head over to Archives.gov for Constitution Day!

Images: Painted plaster model of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Created in 1937 by the Pennsylvania Museum Extension Project (MEP), a branch of the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration (WPA). From the FDR Library; United States Constitution, page 1.