The Constitution was a product of its time in that it aimed to deal with many of the questions facing early Americans. Which groups of people are specifically mentioned in the Constitution?

he Constitution of the United States is the central instrument of American government and the supreme law of the land. For 200 years it has guided the evolution of governmental institutions and has provided the basis for political stability, individual freedom, economic growth, and social progress.

The American Constitution is the world's oldest written constitution in force, one that has served as the model for a number of other constitutions around the world. The Constitution owes its staying power to its simplicity and flexibility. Originally designed in the late 18th century to provide a framework for governing 4 million people in 13 very different states along America's Atlantic coast, its basic provisions were so soundly conceived that, with only 27 amendments, it now serves the needs of more than 260 million Americans in 50 even more diverse states that stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.

The path to the Constitution was neither straight nor easy. A draft document emerged in 1787, but only after intense debate and six years of experience with an earlier federal union. The 13 British colonies in America declared their independence from their motherland in 1776. A year before, war had broken out between the colonies and Britain, a war for independence that lasted for six bitter years. While still at war, the colonies - now calling themselves the United States of America - drafted a compact that bound them together as a nation. The compact, designated the "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union," was adopted by a congress of the states in 1777 and formally signed in July 1778. The Articles became binding when they were ratified by the 13th state, Maryland, in March 1781.