The United States Constitution, drafted, debated, and signed by delegates meeting inside Independence Hall in 1787, created a framework of government designed to balance and share power through the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. It also established an amendment process so the document could evolve as times change. Amendments were added to guarantee individual freedoms, abolish slavery, confer citizenship on formerly enslaved people, and extend voting rights to women. For more than 200 years, the Constitution has provided the framework for the people of the United States to participate in an ongoing imperfect experiment in self-government.