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Today in History, September 17th

On September 17, 1787, 39 delegates signed the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia. Plus the Battle of Antietam and the Camp David Accords.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published September 17, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

September 17 is best known for 1787, when 39 delegates in Philadelphia signed the U.S. Constitution. The date also saw the Battle of Antietam in 1862 and the signing of the Camp David Accords at the White House in 1978.

The big story: The U.S. Constitution is signed (1787)

The delegates had been at it since May 25, shut inside the Pennsylvania State House, the building now called Independence Hall, through a Philadelphia summer. Every state sent people except Rhode Island, and George Washington was chosen to run the meetings. What they produced was a whole new framework for a national government. On September 17, 1787, 39 of the delegates still on hand signed it. Signing was the easy part. Under Article VII, the Constitution needed approval from nine of the 13 states. Delaware went first in December 1787, and New Hampshire became the crucial ninth on June 21, 1788. The new government got under way in 1789, and the first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791. Rhode Island, which had skipped the convention, held out until May 29, 1790, the last of the original states to sign on.

More events on September 17

Year	What happened
1862	The Battle of Antietam was fought near Antietam Creek in Maryland, the bloodiest single day in American military history. Lee’s army withdrew to Virginia afterward.
1862	Explosions at the Allegheny Arsenal in Pittsburgh killed 78 workers, most of them young women and girls, the deadliest civilian disaster of the Civil War.
1939	The Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland, carrying out a secret clause of its pact with Nazi Germany, whose own invasion had begun on September 1.
1976	NASA unveiled its first space shuttle, Enterprise, in Palmdale, California. It was a test vehicle and never flew in space.
1978	Egypt’s Anwar el-Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords at the White House after 12 days of talks hosted by President Jimmy Carter.
1983	Vanessa Williams became the first Black woman to win the Miss America title.
1996	Oprah Winfrey launched her TV book club with The Deep End of the Ocean, starting a run that turned many of her picks into bestsellers.
2011	Occupy Wall Street protesters gathered at Zuccotti Park in Manhattan to protest income inequality, starting a sit-in that lasted about two months.

Born on September 17

1901: Sir Francis Chichester, who sailed solo around the world in 1966–67, born in Barnstaple, England.
1923: Hank Williams, country music’s first superstar, born in Georgiana, Alabama.
1995: Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback and Super Bowl MVP, born in Tyler, Texas.