U.S. Constitution

The Constitution of the United States is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_law" title="Supreme law" class="mw-redirect" >supreme law</a> of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_America" title="United States of America" class="mw-redirect" >United States of America</a>. The first three Articles of the Constitution establish the rules and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_powers" title="Separation of powers" >separate powers</a> of the three branches of the federal government: a legislature, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameralism" title="Bicameralism" >bicameral</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_of_the_United_States" title="Congress of the United States" class="mw-redirect" >Congress</a>; an executive branch led by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States" title="President of the United States" >President</a>; and a federal judiciary headed by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States" title="Supreme Court of the United States" >Supreme Court</a>. The last four Articles frame the principle of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalism" title="Federalism" >federalism</a>. The Tenth Amendment confirms its <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalism" title="Federalism" >federal characteristics</a>.

The Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Convention" title="Philadelphia Convention" class="mw-redirect" >Constitutional Convention</a> in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratification" title="Ratification" >ratified</a> by conventions in eleven <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._state" title="U.S. state" >states</a>. It went into effect on March 4, 1789<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States#cite_note-0" >[1]</a>. The first ten amendments are known as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights" title="United States Bill of Rights" >Bill of Rights</a>. The Constitution has been <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_amendments_to_the_United_States_Constitution" title="List of amendments to the United States Constitution" >amended</a> seventeen times (for a total of 27 amendments) and its principles are applied in courts of law by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_review" title="Judicial review" >judicial review</a>.

The Constitution guides American society in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_United_States" title="Law of the United States" >law</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_the_United_States" title="Politics of the United States" >political culture</a>. It is the oldest <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution" title="Constitution" >charter of supreme law</a> in continuous use, and it influenced later international figures establishing national constitutions. Recent impulses for reform center on concerns for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy" title="Democracy" >extending democracy</a> and<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxing_and_Spending_Clause#Restrictions_on_spending" title="Taxing and Spending Clause" >balancing the Federal budget</a>.