美利坚合众国宪法（英語：Constitution of the United States of America）简称美国宪法[2]，是美国的最高法律[3]，奠定了美国社会与政治制度的法律基础。该宪法于1787年9月17日在费城召开的制宪会议上获得代表们的通过，并在此后不久为当时美国拥有的13个州的特别会议所批准。1789年3月4日，美国宪法正式生效。根据这部宪法，美国成为一个由各个拥有主权的州所组成的联邦国家，同时设置联邦政府来为联邦的运作服务。从此联邦体制取代了基于邦联条例而存在较为松散的邦联体制。美国宪法是世界上首部成文宪法，该宪法为日后许多国家成文宪法的制定提供了成功的典范。
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
^16 Am. Jur. 2d Constitutional Law § 10; "The Constitution went into effect in March of 1789." Referring to Owings v. Speed, 18 U.S. 420, 5 L. Ed. 124 (1820), "The present Constitution of the United States did not commence its operation until the first Wednesday in March, 1789."
Marshall, Thurgood, "The Constitution: A Living Document," Howard Law Journal 1987: 623-28.
Bailyn, Bernard, ed. The Debate on the Constitution: Federalist and Antifederalist Speeches, Articles, and Letters During the Struggle for Ratification. Part One: September 1787 to February 1788 (The Library of America （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）, 1993) ISBN 978-0-940450-42-4
Bailyn, Bernard, ed. The Debate on the Constitution: Federalist and Antifederalist Speeches, Articles, and Letters During the Struggle for Ratification. Part Two: January to August 1788 (The Library of America （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）, 1993) ISBN 978-0-940450-64-6
Finkelman, Paul "Affirmative Action for the Master Class: The Creation of the Proslavery Constitution," University of Akron Law Review 32 (No. 3, 1999): 423-70.
Finkelman, Paul Slavery and the Founders: Race and Slavery in the Age of Jefferson (Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1996);
Finkelman, Paul "Slavery and the Constitution: Making a Covenant with Death," in Richard R. Beeman, Stephen Botein, and Edward C., Carter, II, eds., Beyond Confederation: Origins of the Constitution and American National Identity (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1987);
Wiecek, William M., "The Witch at the Christening: Slavery and the Constitution's Origins," Leonard W. Levy and Dennis J. Mahoney, eds., The Framing and Ratification of the Constitution (New York: Macmillan, 1987), 178-84.
Wiecek, William M., "'The Blessings of Liberty': Slavery in the American Constitutional Order," in Robert A. Goldman and Art Kaufman, eds., Slavery and Its Consequences: The Constitution, Equality, and Race (Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute, 1988), 23-34.
Kammen, Michael. A Machine that Would Go of Itself: The Constitution in American Culture. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1986. ISBN 978-0-394-52905-9.
Kelly, Alfred Hinsey; Harbison, Winfred Audif; Belz, Herman. The American Constitution: its origins and development 7th edition. New York: Norton & Co. 1991. ISBN 978-0-393-96119-5. 引文格式1维护：冗余文本 (link)
Levy, Leonard W., ed. Encyclopedia of the American Constitution 2nd Edition. New York: Macmillan. 2000. ISBN 978-0-02-864880-4. 引文格式1维护：冗余文本 (link)
