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Existing comment: "Independent Gazetter, or the Chronicle of Freedom," Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 28, 1788

Delegates met in 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation, which governed the newly-independent states. The result, however, was the creation of a new government under the United States Constitution. Though this outline for a strong central government sparked heated debates - as evidenced by the opinionated excerpts printed here - all thirteen states had finally ratified the constitution by May 1790.
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