The U.S. Constitution, Essay Example

The U.S. Constitution was written in 1787 to replace the unpopular Articles of Confederation that served as the first constitution of the United States.  The Philadelphia Convention was held on May 25, 1787 with the express purpose of revising the Articles to create a better functioning code of law for the new country.   Men from each of the colonies met in Philadelphia that summer to draft the Constitution.  These men are known today as the Founding Fathers.  Of the 55 Founding Fathers, Alexander was one of the most influential.  While the Articles had simply bound together the self-governing states within America, the Constitution sought to establish a strong central government, giving control to a centralized federal government instead of to the individual states. Hamilton was accused by some of being a monarch sympathizer since he originally sought to allow the president to be elected to a life term.  Hamilton drafted a version of the Constitution that included his president for life clause, as well as many of the clauses included in the constitution that was eventually ratified.  Hamilton was a member of the Federalist party, a party among whose members included John Jay and James Madison.  The three men wrote the Federalist Papers, which is still considered today to be a primary source of interpretation of the constitution.