Documents

Title:

Committee of Detail Draft of the United States Constitution

Object Name:

Documents

Creator:

Printer: John Dunlap

Date:

circa1787

Material:

laid paper, iron gall ink

Dimensions:

H-4.75 L-21 Dia-7 inches
The dimesions listed are for the original. Dimensions in the mylar sleeve: 11.75 x 17.375 inches and in the mat: 16 x 21.75 inches.

Description:

Seven page broadside-style document (with an eighth cover page), printing ink on laid paper with corrections and amendments in iron gall ink by Captain Nicholas Gilman, delegate to the Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1787. Begins with "We the People of the States of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, do ordain, declare and establish the following Constitution of the Government of Ourselves and our Posterity."... an proceed to execute this Constitution."

Provenance:

The Committee of Detail comprised of Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, Nathaniel Gorham of Massachusetts, Edmund Randolph of Virginia, John Rutledge of South Carolina, and James Wilson of Pennsylvania, prepared a draft Constitution that encompassed the results of the deliberations. Its draft included multiple plans that had been initially discussed in the Convention. The final report of this Committee, which became the first draft of the Constitution, was the first workable constitutional plan. On August 6, 1787, the Committee submitted the document to the rest of the Convention. Each delegate was presented with this report consisting of seven folio pages enabling space for delegates to make notations. On September 8, 1787, a Committee of Style with different members was empanelled to sit down and revise the actual text of the Constitution.

As one of the two delegates from New Hampshire, Nicholas Gilman, could only do so much at the Convention due to his late arrival. By the time he arrived much of the major business had already been conducted. He made no speeches and played only a minor part in the deliberations. He did, however, serve on the Committee of Postponed Matters that helped to address concerns from the Committee of Detail. His draft from the Committee of Detail contains hand-written notes about the debates that occurred from August to September 1787.

This draft was presented to the New Hampshire Society of the Cincinnati by John Gardiner Gilman President of the New Hampshire Society of the Cincinniati 1896-1905 and grandnephew of Nicholas Gilman. Presumably it was handed down in the Nicholas Gilman family.

Subjects:

Constitution, Documents, Broadsides, Draft, Committees

People:

Gilman, Nicholas, Gilman, John Gardiner, Dunlap, John

Place of Origin:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Collection Name:

Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Hampshire

Item Number:

1990.200

Accession Number:

1990.200

Type of Material:

Objects

Copyright Statement:

For information regarding copyright, permissions, and reproductions contact the American Independence Museum

Credit Line:

Gift of John Gardiner Gilman, President of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Hampshire, 1896-1905

Participating Organization:

American Independence Museum