The United States Constitution has served as the supreme law of the United States since taking effect in 1789. The document was written at the 1787 Philadelphia Convention and was ratified through a series of state conventions held in 1787 and 1788. Since 1789, the Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times; particularly important amendments include the ten amendments of the United States Bill of Rights and the three Reconstruction Amendments.
Independence Hall, south wing. Philadelphia
Washington as Convention President
George Washington Convention President
Early American publishers and printers played a central role in the social, religious, political and commercial development of the Thirteen Colonies in British America prior to and during the American Revolution and the ensuing American Revolutionary War that established American independence.
A typical printing press of the 18th century. Religious enthusiasm and the great demand for bibles and other religious works is largely what promoted the first printing efforts in the American colonies. Before and during the American Revolution colonial printers were also actively publishing newspapers and pamphlets expressing the strong sentiment against British colonial policy and taxation.
The May 9, 1754 issue of The Pennsylvania Gazette, published in Philadelphia
The Pennsylvania Evening Post was the first newspaper to publish the Declaration of Independence following its unanimous adoption on July 4, 1776, by the Second Continental Congress
In 1939, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp depicting John Day's printing press and commemorating the 300th anniversary of publishing during the colonial era.