The United States Constitution

'We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union...' The Constitution, drafted at the convention in Philadelphia in 1787 and ratified in 1788, sets out the framework of the American federal government in seven articles: a Congress of two houses that makes the laws, a President who carries them out and commands the armed forces, and a Supreme Court, with the powers of each limited by the others, together with the relations between the federal government and the states and the process for amending the document itself.

It is the oldest written national constitution still in force, and its system of separated powers and checks and balances has influenced constitutions around the world. Note that this text gives the original Constitution without the later amendments, beginning with the Bill of Rights of 1791. Its arguments were defended in The Federalist Papers, and its principles go back to the Declaration of Independence.