The Printed Draft of the Constitution Shows a Government Still Being Edited
- Rebecca Canales
- 9 minutes ago
- 6 min read
The Constitution is often presented as a finished document whose familiar words emerged from the Constitutional Convention in their final form.
One surviving artifact tells a more complicated story.
A printed draft of the Constitution dated Sept. 13, 1787, preserves both the nearly completed text and the handwritten changes made during the convention’s final days. The copy belonged to New Jersey delegate David Brearley, who recorded proposed revisions directly on its printed pages.
The crossed-out words, additions and marginal notes show that even after months of debate, the delegates were still editing the government they planned to propose to the states.
The convention was called to revise the Articles
Delegates assembled in Philadelphia in 1787 with instructions to address the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.
The Articles had created a confederation in which each state retained its sovereignty, freedom and independence. Congress could conduct diplomacy, declare war and address common concerns, but it could not directly tax individuals and depended heavily upon the cooperation of state governments.
By 1787, unpaid debts, disputes over commerce and difficulty enforcing national agreements had convinced many political leaders that changes were necessary.
The convention did not merely revise the Articles. Its delegates designed an entirely new federal system with legislative, executive and judicial branches operating under a written Constitution.
That decision was itself controversial. The delegates were proposing to replace the existing confederation with a government possessing substantially greater authority.
Months of debate produced multiple drafts
The Constitution was not composed during a single meeting or written by one person.
Delegates debated competing proposals throughout the summer. Committees reduced their decisions to written reports, which were then reviewed, debated and revised by the convention.
An August draft prepared through the Committee of Detail contained a preamble and 23 articles. Debate continued until Sept. 8, when the convention appointed a five-member Committee of Style and Arrangement.
The committee consisted of William Samuel Johnson of Connecticut, Alexander Hamilton of New York, Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, James Madison of Virginia and Rufus King of Massachusetts.
Its assignment was to arrange and refine provisions the convention had already approved. The committee reorganized the document, reducing its 23 articles to seven and placing the text into a form much closer to the Constitution known today.
The Committee of Style delivered its report on Sept. 12. Printers John Dunlap and David Claypoole produced copies for the delegates, and the printed draft was brought into the convention on Sept. 13.
“We the People” replaced a list of states
One of the most consequential changes appeared in the preamble.
An earlier draft began by naming the individual states. The Committee of Style replaced that list with the phrase:
“We the People of the United States.”
The change was practical because the delegates could not know which states would ultimately ratify the proposed Constitution. But it also reflected the fundamentally different system they were creating.
Under the Articles of Confederation, the states had formed a league while retaining their individual sovereignty. The proposed Constitution would derive its authority from the people acting through state ratifying conventions and would establish a government capable of operating directly upon individuals.
The Constitution did not eliminate the states. It divided authority between state governments and a new federal government. The states would retain extensive governing powers, receive equal representation in the Senate and play essential roles in elections, amendments and ratification.
Nevertheless, “We the People” announced that the new government would be more than another agreement among sovereign state legislatures.
Brearley’s copy records last-minute changes
David Brearley’s copy was not placed behind glass as a ceremonial object in 1787. It was a working document.
Its handwritten annotations record changes made after the printed draft reached the delegates. Words were crossed out, clauses were reconsidered and replacement language was written into the margins.
One notable change involved representation in the House of Representatives.
The printed draft established a maximum ratio of one representative for every 40,000 people. On the final day of the convention, George Washington supported reducing that figure to one representative for every 30,000 people.
Washington had generally avoided participating directly in the convention’s debates while presiding over its proceedings. His support for this change was therefore especially significant. The delegates approved it, and the final Constitution reflected the smaller ratio.
Brearley recorded the change on his printed copy.
That single correction demonstrates why working drafts matter. The handwritten notes preserve decisions that would otherwise appear only as polished language in the finished Constitution.
Printing accelerated the drafting process
The use of printed working copies also reveals how the delegates completed such a complicated document.
Rather than requiring every delegate to rely upon handwritten copies, printers could produce identical versions of committee reports. Delegates could read the same language, write proposed changes onto their copies and compare revisions during debate.
Printing did not mean the document was final. It provided the convention with a shared text that could continue to be edited.
The printed draft of the Constitution therefore represents a stage between debate and completion: more developed than a collection of resolutions but not yet the final engrossed parchment signed by the delegates.
The delegates approved the completed draft on Sept. 15. Jacob Shallus then engrossed the final language onto parchment in preparation for the signing ceremony.
On Sept. 17, 1787, 39 delegates signed the Constitution. Three delegates present—George Mason, Elbridge Gerry and Edmund Randolph—refused to sign.
Even then, the Constitution had not become law.
The document still had to be transmitted to the states and approved through specially elected ratifying conventions. Under Article VII, ratification by nine states would establish the Constitution among the states approving it.
New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify on June 21, 1788. The new federal government began operating in 1789.
A record of decisions rather than inevitability
Looking at the handwritten corrections on Brearley’s copy makes the creation of the Constitution appear less inevitable.
The delegates disagreed over representation, executive power, slavery, commerce, taxation, the authority of the federal government and the continuing position of the states. The final language emerged through negotiations and compromises rather than unanimous agreement on every issue.
The Constitution also left important questions unresolved. Its original text protected slavery through several compromises, excluded most people from direct participation in national politics and contained no declaration of individual rights comparable to those already found in several state constitutions.
Opposition during ratification would force supporters of the Constitution to promise that amendments protecting individual liberties would be considered after the new government began operating.
Brearley’s annotated copy captures the Constitution before those later arguments—when even the original document itself had not yet reached its final wording.
History written in ink and crossed-out type
The signed Constitution is remembered for its elegant script and enduring opening words. Brearley’s printed copy offers a different kind of historical value.
It shows the Constitution being made.
The document contains the traces of uncertainty, negotiation and correction that preceded the finished parchment. It reminds us that the federal government was not created in a single inspired moment. It was constructed provision by provision, vote by vote and revision by revision.
The printed draft of the Constitution is important precisely because it was not final.
Its crossed-out words allow us to see the founders still deciding what the United States would become.
All photographs accompanying this article were taken by Rebecca Canales while visiting the National Archives’ Freedom Plane exhibition at USC in Los Angeles on April 17, 2026.
More Information:
If you would like to know more about the drafting of the Constitution, you can get more information here:
National Archives — Drafting the U.S. Constitutionhttps://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2022/09/12/drafting-the-u-s-constitution/
National Archives — How Was the Constitution Made?https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution/how-was-it-made
National Archives — Constitution of the United Stateshttps://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/constitution
National Archives — Constitution Questions and Answershttps://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-q-and-a
National Constitution Center — Drafting the United States Constitutionhttps://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/drafting-table/item/drafting-the-united-states-constitution
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