On September 17, 1787, a group of men gathered in a closed meeting room to sign the greatest vision of human freedom in history, the U.S. Constitution. And it was Benjamin Franklin who made the motion to sign the document in his last great speech.
The Constitutional Convention started in May 1787 in Pennsylvania’s State House (which is now called Independence Hall). During four months of deliberations, the delegates drew up a plan for a new form of republican government that replaced a weak central government established by the Articles of Confederation.
George Washington presided over the Convention, which featured many of the great minds of the day (James Madison, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, and, for a while, Alexander Hamilton), a legend (Franklin) and the most important regional leaders in the United States. Absent were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and John Hancock, among others.