America’s Constitutional convention occurred in 1787, several years after the Revolutionary War. In addition to addressing the errors that long plagued history’s governments, the founders sought to correct the recent defects of the Articles of Confederation.

There were many. The Articles outlined the alliance between America’s several states. The arrangement was, to put it charitably, a train wreck. The central government was weak and dysfunctional, lacking both executive and judicial functions. The legislature couldn’t levy taxes to fund its operations and relied instead on voluntary state payments. The states had their own currencies, stifling trade among them. And after the war, the new nation’s economy was so weak it couldn’t settle its substantial war debts to European countries and investors.

Shays’ Rebellion in 1786 and 1787 brought the Confederation’s embarrassing weakness into stark relief. The central government couldn’t even quell a small tax protest by Western Massachusetts farmers. Led by Daniel Shays, a former revolutionary soldier, the rebellion initially was confined to several violent attacks on government buildings. It ballooned into a full-scale military confrontation before finally — months later — being subdued.

Today many Americans on the right glorify this post-war era as the triumphant celebration of a blossoming young democracy. Not quite. The nebulous alliance between the states hung together by the thinnest of threads, barely surviving each successive day. Mistakes, blunders and setbacks dominated the fledging government. And everything easily could have been different: A negative twist here, an unfortunate turn there, and the American experiment could have died in the womb. America’s Constitution was thus inspired as much by the stress of the young nation’s post-war crisis as by the energy of the founders’ political passions.

The Constitution was a carefully engineered response to the enormous challenges — old and new, grand and practical — inherent in forming a lasting and effective government. It was enacted on June 21, 1788, when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it. The drafters set forth their goals in the Preamble: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, 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.”

Merely 4,400 words, the Constitution has seven articles that form the basic structure of American government:

• Article I outlines the Legislative Branch, including Congress’s power to pass legislation, borrow money and declare war.
• Article II outlines the Executive Branch, including the President’s power to enter treaties, nominate federal judges and command the military.
• Article III outlines the Judicial Branch, including judges’ power to rule on “cases and controversies” between litigants.
• Article IV outlines responsibilities of the federal government and state governments.
• Article V outlines the Constitutional-amendment process.
• Article VI declares the assumption of the Confederation’s debts, asserts the preeminence of federal law and requires government officials to swear an oath to the Constitution.
• Article VII states that the ratification of nine states shall be sufficient to enact the Constitution.

A vital source for understanding how America works, the Federalist Papers emerged shortly after Americans ratified the Constitution. The Federalist Papers were a series of 85 newspaper columns written by political leaders James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, under the pen name Publius. The columns expounded on the new Constitution’s reasoning, language and structure.

For example, Hamilton, in Federalist 22, echoed John Locke in highlighting the central importance of government by consent: “The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid bases of THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE. The streams of national power ought to flow from that pure, original fountain of all legitimate authority.” (Emphasis included.)

Madison, in Federalist 51, explained how the structure of government must be designed to accept and harness the realities of human nature: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

And Madison, in Federalist 58, emphasized the vital importance of checks and balances: “An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy so that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.”

Today, many critics focus myopically on the Constitution’s errors. Columnist Ryan Cooper, for example, shares sentiments with many on the left: “The American Constitution is an outdated, malfunctioning piece of junk — and it’s only getting worse. When written, the Constitution made a morally hideous compromise with slavery that took a war and 750,000 lives to make right. And while its basic structure sort of worked for awhile in the 20th century, the Constitution is now falling prey to the same defects that has toppled every other similar governing document the world over.”

Meanwhile many triumphalists over-emphasize the Constitution’s virtues. America’s 40th president Ronald Reagan (still a conservative champion) expressed sentiments common on the right: “If our Constitution has endured, through times perilous as well as prosperous, it has not been simply as a plan of government, no matter how ingenious or inspired that might be. This document that we honor today has always been something more to us, filled us with a deeper feeling than one of simple admiration — a feeling, one might say, more of reverence.”

Neither extreme is correct. Some parts of the Constitution are, in fact, quite dreadful. And some parts are, unquestionably, extremely positive. America’s founding document should thus be condemned and celebrated — not one or the other. It is indeed a great irony of human history that the same document that contains numerous searing abominations — some of which still reverberate today — also sets forth an essential architecture of government that has dramatically increased human flourishing.

William Cooper is the author of “How America Works … And Why It Doesn’t.”