Committee of Detail. The Slavery Compromise. Summary and Analysis

Monday August 6, the Committee of Detail completes its report. The five members, Randolph, Wilson, Gorham, Ellsworth and Rutledge have worked hard to assemble the various resolutions into a single report. For form and structure, they refer to similar documents already in force, such as the Articles of Confederation and the various states constitutions. They do not consider that they are writing what will actually become the new Constitution, however, Bowen states. They methodically arrange the resolutions into sections.

At the meeting of August 6, Rutledge distributes a copy of the report to the state delegations, after which the meeting adjourns. Bowen imagines that although the report has nothing in it that is new to the delegates, seeing it all in one place must have been shocking to them. The delegations each meet...