rtant services were rendered by the committee of
detail, which early in August put into orderly and connected form the
conclusions which the convention had reached. It was the committee on
unfinished business which suggested the method finally adopted of
electing the President. In its final form and phrasing the Constitution
is the work of Gouverneur Morris, who prepared the report of the
committee of style.

Citizens of Philadelphia who took up their copies of the _Pennsylvania
Advertiser_ on Tuesday, September 17, found to their surprise that the
columns were completely filled with the new Constitution. This was their
first intimation of what the convention had really done. Rumor had
stalked abroad that the convention was rent by dissensions; but the
envious reader saw at the end of his paper the words, "Done in
convention by the unanimous consent of the States ... in witness whereof
we have hereunto subscribed our names." Done by unanimous consent of
the delegates the Constitution was not, for not all the delegates who
were present on the last day would affix their signatures. It was
Gouverneur Morris who suggested the phrase which gave a specious
unanimity to the work of the convention.

The thoughtful reader of the Constitution must have been impressed by
the new features which caught his eye. In place of the old inefficient
and powerless Congress, he observed a well-organized national
legislature, an independent executive, and a federal judiciary of ample
jurisdiction. Further scrutiny must have apprised him that the new
Government would operate directly upon individuals, thus remedying a
vital defect in the Confederation. The powers given to Congress may well
have set at rest the minds of anxious public creditors. With the power
to lay and collect taxes, to raise and support a military and naval
establishment, and to regulate commerce, Congress had ample means to pay
the public debt, to enforce its claims, and to offer protection to trade
and industry. Not less significant to property-owners were the brief
clauses in the new Constitution which sharply forbade States to emit
bills of credit, to make anything but gold and silver legal tender in
payment of debts, and to make laws impairing the obligation of
contracts.

[Map: Distribution of Votes in Ratification of the Constitution
The New England States (Based on the map of Dr. O. G. Libby)]

But what guaranty was there that States would observe these
prohibit