John Adams said this. As one of the founding fathers, he was instrumental in writing the Declaration of Independence with Thomas Jefferson. He was the second President of the United States, and appointed John Marshall as chief justice. In doing so, he pushed to elevate the judicial branch to a point of equality with the legislative and executive branches.  

He also wrote Thoughts on Government, which laid out legislatures with upper and lower houses and became the basis of many state constitutions.  

Legally it only required that nine of the thirteen states ratify the Constitution before it went into effect as the supreme governing document of the United States. The first state to ratify was Delaware and the ninth was New Hampshire. Although it is worth noting that most politicians agreed that all thirteen states had to ratify the Constitution before it could be considered infallible, and the Union could be considered properly established, debate in Virginia and New York raged heatedly, with both states ratifying soon after New Hampshire. Only North Carolina and Rhode Island took significantly longer—North Carolina joining in November of 1789, and Rhode Island in May, 1790.

John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison promoted the ratification of the U.S. Constitution through their series of essays called The Federalist Papers.

Patrick Henry is credited with having delivered these words to the Virginia Convention in his successful effort to commit Virginia troops to the Revolutionary War effort.

The Great Compromise of 1787 resulted in the formation of two houses of Congress (The House of Representatives and the Senate): one based on population, the other giving equal representation to all states.

Rhode Island and Connecticut were the only two self-governing colonies. They were both founded by dissenters from the Massachusetts Bay colony and directly elected the governor and representatives to the upper and lower houses. Maryland, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and New York were all governed by a proprietor.

The Treaty of Fontainebleau was a secret agreement made between Spain and France towards the end of the French-Indian Wars. Realizing that they were likely to lose the Seven Years’ War with Great Britain, the French government desired that the territory of Louisiana should fall into the hands of the Spanish before Great Britain could get a hold of it. The stated reason at the time was to ensure that the citizens living there would remain under Catholicism; however, most historians believe the geopolitical situation with Britain was of greater significance. The Treaty of Paris (1763) ended the French-Indian Wars and gave Britain control of the Eastern portion of the Louisiana territory and ensured that Spain would control the Western portion and the major port city of New Orleans. 

James Madison, the fourth President of the United States, is considered the "Father of the Constitution" for his role in drafting it and the Bill of Rights.

On November 11th, 1620, while still aboard the Mayflower, most adult Pilgrim men signed the Mayflower Compact.

Conceived by Roger Sherman and James Wilson, both delegates to the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, the Three-Fifths Compromise established the weight of a state's slave population toward the number of its members to the House of Representatives.