September 11, 1787: The Second Draft

William Livingston's signature on the Constitution.

"my hopes of returning by the time expected are a little clouded by reason of there being certain creatures in this world that are more pleased with their speeches than they can [prevail] upon any body else to be."
— William Livingston

Tuesday, September 11, 1787

The Convention met and adjourned at once: the Committee of Style hadn't finished. Its members:

• Johnson (CT);
• Hamilton (NY);
• Gouverneur Morris (PA);
• Madison (VA);
• King (MA).

How they worked. Johnson's diary shows the committee met after dinner on September 8, and again on the 10th and 11th. They probably drew up an outline on the 8th — where each article would go, and who would draft what — wrote the draft on Sunday the 9th, revised it on the 10th and polished it on the 11th.

Who wrote it. The evidence points to Gouverneur Morris as the draftsman, though every member wrote exceptionally well. Compare the Preamble before and after:

• Before, the draft opened by naming each state — "We the people of the States of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, … and Georgia, do ordain, declare and establish the following Constitution for the Government of Ourselves and our Posterity" — and Article I began: "The stile of this Government shall be, 'The United States of America.'"
• After: "We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Historians have suspected Morris used careful word choice and punctuation to bend some provisions toward his own views — and he later said as much — but the other delegates weren't easily fooled. Either way, the second draft put the Convention's work into language that has endured.

In short

• The Convention adjourned while the Committee of Style finished the second draft.

Around the Convention

• Washington (VA) dined at Robert Morris's (PA) with the Spanish minister, Don Diego Gardoqui, and many others.
• Livingston (NJ) wrote to his son-in-law John Jay in New York, looking forward to seeing "a certain little gentleman" — his grandson.

Philadelphia today

Exceedingly warm.

The series: The Constitutional Convention: A Day-by-Day Account for September 1787 · previous: September 10, 1787: Amendments and Ratification · next: September 12, 1787: No Bill of Rights

Sources

Based on "September 11, 1787: The Second Draft," The Constitutional Convention: A Day-by-Day Account, Independence National Historical Park, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.