inciples, on July 24 a committee of five[k]
was selected to draft a detailed constitution embodying the fundamental
principles which had thus far been approved. The Convention adjourned
from July 26 to August 6 to await the report of its committee of detail.
This committee, in preparing its draft of a Constitution, turned for
assistance to the State constitutions, to the Articles of Confederation,
to the various plans which had been submitted to the Convention and
other available material. On the whole the report of the committee
conformed to the resolutions adopted by the Convention, though on many
clauses the members of the committee left the imprint of their
individual and collective judgments. In a few instances the committee
avowedly exercised considerable discretion.

From August 6 to September 10 the report of the committee of detail was
discussed, section by section, clause by clause. Details were attended
to, further compromises were effected. Toward the close of these
discussions, on September 8, another committee of five[l] was appointed
"to revise the style of and arrange the articles which had been agreed
to by the house."

On Wednesday, September 12 the report of the committee of style was
ordered printed for the convenience of the delegates. The Convention for
3 days compared this report with the proceedings of the Convention. The
Constitution was ordered engrossed on Saturday, September 15.

The Convention met on Monday, September 17, for its final session.
Several of the delegates were disappointed in the result. A few deemed
the new Constitution a mere makeshift, a series of unfortunate
compromises. The advocates of the Constitution, realizing the impending
difficulty of obtaining the consent of the States to the new instrument
of Government, were anxious to obtain the unanimous support of the
delegations from each State. It was feared that many of the delegates
would refuse to give their individual assent to the Constitution.
Therefore, in order that the action of the convention would appear to be
unanimous, Gouverneur Morris devised the formula "Done in Convention, by
the unanimous consent of the States present the 17th of September * * *
In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names." Thirty-nine
of the forty-two delegates present thereupon "subscribed" to the
document.[m]

The Convention had been called to revise the Articles of Confederation.
Instead, it reported to the Continental