Today’s post was written by National Archives volunteer Paul Richter. It is part of a series tracing the development of the Constitution. Don’t miss our special programs, events, and social media outreach this September in honor of the 225th anniversary of the Constitution.
By July 23, 1787, the Constitutional Convention had been meeting for over two months. The delegates had refined many of the proposals initially laid out in the Virginia Plan and added a few others as well. The resolutions adopted by the Convention contained the broad strokes of the new government’s design, and the delegates recognized the time had come to fill in the spaces between them.
After two months of debating as a full body, the delegates recognized it would not be the most effective forum for the task before them. They consequently appointed a committee of five individuals to capture the resolutions to date and weave them together in to a single document.
John Rutledge, Edmund Randolph, Nathaniel Gorham, Oliver Ellsworth, and James Wilson were appointed to the Committee of Detail. The rest of the delegates adjourned from July 27 through August 5, giving the Committee of Detail a week and a half to prepare the first draft of the Constitution.
Don’t miss our special programs, events, and social media outreach in honor of the 225th anniversary of the Constitution.