4 The Audacious Innovations of the Committee of Detail

Abstract

This chapter discusses to do with the presidency that were not debated on the floor of the Convention, but instead were hashed out in a series of committees, in deliberations that were not recorded. It describes the Committee of Detail, which gave the office of the president its name, its structure, and most of its powers. It also cites Elbridge Gerry, who moved that the proceedings of the Convention for the establishment of a national government be referred to a committee to prepare a report of a conformable constitution. The chapter recounts how the Convention voted down a motion that the committee be composed of a delegate from every state, which was the usual procedure when committees were used to work out disputed questions of substance. It identifies the five members that were given by the Convention to the Committee of Detail to engage in innovative draftsmanship.