Report of the Committee of Style

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Draft United States Constitution: Report of the Committee of Style, September 8—12, 1787. Printed document with annotations by George Washington and Convention Secretary William Jackson. George Washington Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (62)
[Digital ID# us0062 — us0062_3]

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Report of the Committee of Style (62)	Report of the Committee of Style (62.2)
Report of the Committee of Style (62.1)	Report of the Committee of Style (62.3)

William Samuel Johnson chaired the Committee of Style, but James Madison (1751—1836), Rufus King (1755—1827), and Alexander Hamilton (1757—1804) gave the Constitution its substance. Gouverneur Morris (1752—1816), delegate from Pennsylvania, is credited with providing the preamble phrase “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union”—a dramatic change from the opening of the previous version. This simple phrase anchored the new national government in the consent of the people rather than a confederation of states.

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