Report of the
Committee of Style
Broadside United States Constitution
Philadelphia: Claypoole and Dunlap,
September 12, 1787
Page 2 - Page
3 - Page 4
Page 5 - Page
6
Manuscript Division
State Department transfer (5.6)
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By Saturday, September 8, 1787, the work of the Convention was
almost at an end. The delegates appointed a committee consisting
of William Samuel Johnson of Connecticut as chairman; Alexander
Hamilton of New York; Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania; James Madison
of Virginia; and Rufus King of Massachusetts "to revise the style
of, and arrange, the articles which have been agreed to by the House."
Johnson presented a digest of the finished Constitution on September
12, and the Convention ordered copies printed and distributed to
the delegates. The delegates
made few changes in the Committee of Style report. Motions were
made to preface the Constitution with a Bill of Rights and to protect
the freedom of the press, but both were defeated when put to a
vote.
According to Roger Sherman of Connecticut, both proposals were
unnecessary because the individual state declarations of rights
were still in
effect. The Federal Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787,
by thirty-nine delegates attending the Convention. It was then
sent to the states for ratification. This copy belonged
to James Madison.
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