Documentary Milestones in Framing the U.S. Constitution

Resource Collections

Documentary Milestones in Framing the U.S. Constitution

Charts the main stages in drafting the Constitution, and contains the major documents produced by the Convention, allowing for quick comparison.

Cite as: Kieran Hazzard, Documentary Milestones in Framing the U.S. Constitution, Quill Project at Pembroke College (Oxford, accessed 2024)

Details

Between May and September 1787 the Constitutional Convention received, produced or copied over 80 documents. While all of these contributed to the create of the Constitution, printed here are the 7 main stages in the development of the final document. Looking through these documents will allow readers, both familiar and unfamiliar with the Convention, to get to grips with the major changes made during the framing and compare the work of the Convention at each stage.

Collection associations (3)

U.S. Constitutional Convention 1787 (2021 Edition)
The Convention
U.S. Constitutional Convention 1787 (2019 Edition)

Resources (7)

Constitution Reported from the Committee of Detail as Amended by the Convention - (text)

Having received a first draft of a constitution as the Report of the Committee of Detail, the Convention undertook a detailed consideration. The debate and amendment process resulted in the referral of several parts to five separate committees, in...

Constitution of the United States - (text)

The final version of the Constitution was produced by the Convention as a result of the close reading of the Report of the Committee of Style and Arrangement. The changes at this stage of the process were mainly limited to technical and linguistic...

Report of the Committee of Detail - (text)

The resolutions developed by the Convention over the course of June and July were referred to the Committee of Detail to be drafted into a Constitution. The small committee undertook a major redrafting of these Resolutions, and incorporated elements...

Report of the Committee of Style and Arrangement - (text)

The draft Constitution was sent to the Committee of Style and Arrangement to be rearranged and revised. The committee restricted the Constitution into its current form comprised of seven articles. This was the last major redraft of the Constitution.

Report of the Committee of the Whole House - (text)

Having debated and amended the Virginia Plan in the Committee of the Whole House, the resolutions contained within it were written up into a report which was referred to the Convention for further debate. Many of the major decisions about the main...

Resolutions of the Committee of the Whole House as Amended by the Convention - (text)

The resolutions contained in the Report of the Committee of the Whole House were taken up by the Convention, and debated and amended once more. This process allowed the Convention move on from the debate on the general outline of the Virginia Plan in...

Virginia Plan - (text)

The Virginia Plan was proposed by Edmund Randolph at the start of the Convention, and was the first plan taken up for consideration. As a result the plan set the overall agenda for the process of framing the constitution. Though sometimes referred to...