Constitution of the United States of America, 1787

The document that shaped the modern world. Written in a sweltering Philadelphia summer by fifty-five delegates seeking to create a government strong enough to unite fractious states but limited enough to protect individual liberty. The Constitution established the revolutionary idea that sovereign power flows from the people, not from monarchs or divine right. It created a system of checks and balances among three branches, a federal structure dividing power between national and state governments, and a mechanism for amendment that has allowed the document to evolve over two centuries. The original text of 4,400 words established the framework; the subsequent twenty-seven amendments, including the Bill of Rights, have expanded its promises of freedom and equality. This is the closest thing American political culture has to sacred text: the operating manual for the world's oldest written national constitution, still governing 330 million citizens.