The Constitutional Convention of 1787 formed the longest lasting written Constitution ever created. Though the United States existed before the ratification of the Constitution, it only had the Articles of Confederation to hold the nation together. The Articles of Confederation tended to be controversial and weak when it came to the national government. The men at Philadelphia on that September day wrote a document that was the result of many compromises and shaped by the failure of the United States under the Articles of Confederation.

The key failure that the Articles of Confederation had was that the states had more power than the National Government. The National Government had no power to enforce its laws. They were missing both an executive power and a judicial influence. The government needed to be able to regulate commerce by coining national currency. The states could not trade with each other easily because...