On this day, September 17: Founding Fathers sign Constitution

Sept. 17 (UPI) — On this date in history:

In 1787, the U.S. Constitution, completed in Philadelphia, was signed by a majority of the 55 delegates at the Constitutional Convention. Nine states ratified the document in June 1788, and it became the supreme law of the United States on March 4, 1789.

In 1862, Union forces under General George McClellan attacked Confederate forces under General Robert E. Lee at Antietam Creek in Maryland. McClellan blocked Lee’s advance on Washington, but failed to achieve victory.

In 1939, Soviet troops invaded Poland, 16 days after Nazi Germany had entered the country. Warsaw capitulated to the Nazi armies 20 days later.

In 1972, North Vietnam released three American pilots, the first American prisoners of war the country had released since 1969.

In 1976, NASA unveiled its first space shuttle, the Enterprise, an airplane-like spacecraft that cost nearly $10 billion and took nearly a decade to develop.

In 1978, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords, laying the foundation for a permanent peace agreement between Egypt and Israel after three decades of hostilities.

In 1983, Vanessa Williams of New York became the first black woman to be named Miss America. She resigned 11 months later after nude photos were published, but regained fame as a singer and actress.

In 1991, North Korea, South Korea, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were admitted to the United Nations.

In 1993, Cambodia’s two leading political parties agreed that Prince Norodom Sihanouk would lead the nation. Sihanouk was installed as king a week later.

In 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush said that Osama bin Laden, the suspected leader of the September 11 terrorist attacks, was “wanted dead or alive.” Bin Laden was killed in a U.S. commando raid in Pakistan in 2011.

In 2023, an anonymous actress testified in a court document that she was sexually assaulted by British comedian Russell Brand in 2010 on the set of the film Arthur, while crew members were “guarding the door from the outside.”