239 years ago today
The United States Constitution Is Signed
On September 17, 1787, thirty-nine delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia affixed their signatures to the document that would become the supreme law of the United States. After four sweltering months of secret debate, compromise, and near-collapse, the framers had produced a blueprint for a new kind of government — one built on separated powers, checks and balances, and the radical idea that sovereignty rested with the people. Not everyone was satisfied: several delegates refused to sign, and the document's initial silence on individual rights nearly killed ratification. The first ten amendments — the Bill of Rights — were added in 1791 to secure enough states. The Constitution has since been amended only seventeen more times, yet it has endured for nearly 240 years as the oldest written national constitution still in use, a template studied and borrowed from by governments across the world.
On the record: George Washington
This day, across time
- 1098BornHildegard of Bingen
- 1176EventBattle of Myriokephalon: Byzantine Empire's Last Stand
- 1179DiedHildegard of Bingen
- 1630EventBoston Founded
- 1787FeaturedThe United States Constitution Is Signed
- 1857BornKonstantin Tsiolkovsky
- 1862EventBattle of Antietam — America's Bloodiest Day
- 1908EventFirst Fatal Airplane Crash
- 1920EventNFL Founded in Canton, Ohio
- 1923BornHank Williams
- 1931BornAnne Bancroft
- 1939EventSoviet Union Invades Poland
- 1950BornNarendra Modi
- 1978EventCamp David Accords Signed
- 1980EventSolidarity Trade Union Established in Poland
Alive in 1787
OverlapSame years; not influence
George Washingtonturned 55 this year
Adam Smithturned 64 this year
Andrew Jacksonturned 20 this year
Benjamin Franklinturned 81 this year
Catherine II of Russiaturned 58 this year
Immanuel Kantturned 63 this year
James Madisonturned 36 this year
Jane Austenturned 12 this year
John Adamsturned 52 this year
Louis XVIturned 33 this year
7 more figures were alive that year
Step into the moment
Simulation · scenario
The Convention's Final Address
Assembly Room, Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall), Philadelphia
Benjamin Franklin, September 17, 1787. A simulation set on this date. The figure doesn’t know how the day ends.
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Step into the sceneOn This Day in History
9 EventsBattle of Myriokephalon: Byzantine Empire's Last Stand
Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos is decisively defeated by the Seljuk Turks at Myriokephalon in Anatolia, permanently ending Byzantine hopes of recovering central Turkey. The battle sealed the fate of Christian Asia Minor.
Boston Founded
Puritan colonists officially establish Boston, Massachusetts, naming it after the English town of Boston in Lincolnshire. It would grow into one of the most politically consequential cities in American history.
U.S. Constitution Signed at Philadelphia
Thirty-nine delegates sign the United States Constitution at Independence Hall, creating the framework for the federal government that endures to this day. It is put to the states for ratification.
Battle of Antietam — America's Bloodiest Day
Union and Confederate forces clash at Antietam Creek in Maryland in the single bloodiest day in American military history — over 22,000 casualties in 12 hours. The Union's tactical advantage gave Lincoln the political platform to issue the Emancipation Proclamation days later.
First Fatal Airplane Crash
Army Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge becomes the first person to die in a powered airplane crash when Orville Wright's Wright Flyer goes down at Fort Myer, Virginia. Wright survived, badly injured; aviation's era of casualties had begun.
NFL Founded in Canton, Ohio
The American Professional Football Association — soon renamed the National Football League — is organized at a Hupmobile automobile dealership in Canton, Ohio. Jim Thorpe is elected its first president.
Soviet Union Invades Poland
Two weeks after Nazi Germany invaded from the west, the Soviet Red Army poured across Poland's eastern border, completing the country's division under the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Poland ceased to exist as a state.
Camp David Accords Signed
After 13 days of secret negotiations brokered by President Jimmy Carter at Camp David, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin sign a framework for peace — the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab nation.
Solidarity Trade Union Established in Poland
Poland's Solidarity movement, led by Lech Wałęsa, is officially registered as an independent trade union — the first legal independent trade union in the Soviet bloc. It would grow into a mass movement of 10 million members that helped end communist rule.
Born on This Day
Hank Williams
Country Music Legend
The father of modern country music, who distilled heartbreak, hard drinking, and rural Southern life into timeless songs like "Your Cheatin' Heart," "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," and "Jambalaya." He died at 29 of heart failure, but his influence on American music is incalculable.
Narendra Modi
Prime Minister of India
India's 14th Prime Minister and one of the most powerful politicians of the 21st century, who led the Bharatiya Janata Party to landslide victories in 2014 and 2019 on platforms of economic development and Hindu nationalism. He presides over the world's most populous democracy.
Hildegard of Bingen
German Abbess, Mystic & Composer
One of the most remarkable figures of the Middle Ages — abbess, composer, scientist, visionary, and theologian. She wrote theological texts, composed over 70 liturgical songs, and corresponded with popes and emperors. She was canonized and declared a Doctor of the Church in 2012.
Anne Bancroft
American Actress
Academy Award winner best remembered for her seductive, complex Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (1967) — one of cinema's most iconic roles. She won the Oscar for her earlier stage and screen portrayal of Anne Sullivan in The Miracle Worker (1962).
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Russian Rocket Scientist & Space Visionary
The largely self-taught Russian scientist who first worked out the mathematical principles of rocket propulsion and space travel — decades before anyone built a rocket capable of reaching space. His rocket equation is still fundamental to astronautics. He coined the famous line: "Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot live in a cradle forever."
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Hildegard of Bingen
German Abbess, Mystic & Composer
The visionary abbess who corresponded with emperors, composed sacred music still performed today, and wrote one of the first works of natural history written by a woman. She died at approximately 81, extraordinarily old for the medieval era.
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