Source: https://ameri.download/blog/en-us/when-did-the-constitutional-convention-start [Back to Blog](https://ameri.download/blog/en-us) General # When Did the Constitutional Convention Start? November 9, 2026 4 min read --- ![Men in 1787 coats sit around a long table with a green cloth in a plain room with closed shutters, an empty armchair at the head of the table.](https://ameri.download/blog-images/constitutional-convention-start.webp) The Constitutional Convention opened on **May 25, 1787**, in Philadelphia. It was scheduled for **May 14**, which is why you will see both dates in books. The gap between them is a small story about how hard it was to get thirteen separate states to send people anywhere. ## Why was the convention planned for May 14? In February 1787 the Confederation Congress endorsed a meeting of delegates in Philadelphia "for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation." The date set was the second Monday in May, which was May 14. ## Why did it start on May 25 instead? On May 14 almost nobody was there. Accounts based on National Archives material say that only the delegations from Virginia and Pennsylvania had arrived at first. Travel was slow, roads were poor in spring, and a convention needs enough states present to do business. Delegates drifted in over the next days, and on May 25 delegates from seven states were present, enough for the meeting to begin. In the end every state except Rhode Island sent delegates. Rhode Island never sent anyone. ## Where did the Constitutional Convention meet? The sessions took place in the Pennsylvania State House, which we now call Independence Hall. This was the same room where the Declaration of Independence had been adopted eleven years earlier. The National Park Service notes that the delegates met there in secret sessions from May until September 17, 1787, when the convention ended. ## What happened in the first days of the convention? On the first day the delegates chose George Washington to preside. In the following days they agreed on rules, including a rule of secrecy: the doors were closed, the windows were kept shut in the Philadelphia summer heat, and the delegates did not talk about the debates with outsiders. That secrecy is a main reason historians depend heavily on the notes James Madison kept. Within days, Edmund Randolph of Virginia presented the plan that became known as the Virginia Plan. It did not simply fix the Articles of Confederation. It sketched a new national government with three branches. That shift, from revising to replacing, is why the meeting is remembered as a founding moment and not only a repair job. ## What were the first big arguments? Once the sessions began, the delegates split over representation. Larger states such as Virginia wanted seats in Congress based on population, while smaller states such as New Jersey wanted each state to count equally. Slavery also shaped the debate, because the Southern states wanted enslaved people counted for representation, which led to the three-fifths compromise. These arguments, not the date, filled most of the summer, and the compromise on how Congress would be built came in July. ## Quick answers - **When did it start?** May 25, 1787. - **When was it supposed to start?** May 14, 1787. - **Where?** The Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia. - **When did it end?** September 17, 1787, when the delegates signed the Constitution. - **Who presided?** George Washington. - **Which state did not send delegates?** Rhode Island. ## Who was in the room? Seventy-four delegates were chosen by the states, and about fifty-five took part in the sessions over the summer. Benjamin Franklin, at 81, was the oldest. James Madison came with notes and a plan, and Alexander Hamilton attended for New York. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were not there, since both were serving as diplomats in Europe, and Patrick Henry refused to attend because he suspected the meeting would go too far. Rhode Island stayed away because many of its leaders opposed a stronger national government. ## Why did a few days of delay matter? The delay was not only an inconvenience. While the delegates waited, the Virginia delegation used the days to agree among themselves on a plan, so when the convention opened they arrived with a proposal and the other delegations did not. That head start helped set the terms of the debate. It also explains why the Virginia Plan, and not a modest repair of the old Articles, became the starting point. ## Why the start date still matters The late start shows a pattern that runs through the whole summer: nothing about the Constitution was automatic. The states had to be persuaded to attend, the delegates had to agree to a plan, and then the states had to ratify it, which took until 1788 to reach the nine states needed. ## Sources - [Constitutional Convention, American Battlefield Trust](https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/constitutional-convention) - [Independence Hall and the Constitutional Convention, National Park Service](https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/hh/17/hh17d.htm) - [Constitutional Convention of 1787, Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia](https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/constitutional-convention/)