On this day (Sept. 17) in 1787, 38 of the 41 exhausted delegates in attendance in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall affixed their signatures to the final draft of what, when ratified by at least nine state ratifying conventions, would become the U.S. Constitution.

Delaware delegate George Read signed for himself and for his Delaware colleague, John Dickinson, who had taken sick a few days earlier and gone home. Dickinson, however, had left a letter authorizing Read to sign for him – making 39 signatures in all.

Part of this Monday’s convention proceedings was taken up with trying to convince three diehard delegates (Virginia delegates George Mason and Edmund Randolph and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts) that they should, in the spirit of unanimity, sign the draft.