[Detail] First Draft of the Report of the Committee of Five of the Federal Convention Philadelphia: s.n., 1787. Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was called to revise the ailing Articles of Confederation. However, the Convention soon abandoned the Articles, drafting a new Constitution with a much stronger national government. Nine states had to approve the Constitution before it could go into effect. After a long and often bitter debate, eleven states ratified the Constitution, which instituted a new form of government for the United States.