To guard against oppressive government of any kind, the authors of the United States Constitution sought to establish institutional checks and balances. In framing the Constitution as the fundamental embodiment of such safeguards, the Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia in 1787, at the invitation of the Congress of the Confederation. That is the last time a federal constitutional convention was convened in the United States. In recent years some constitutional scholars have argued that state governments should call for such a convention. Rita Dunaway tells us why.