The committee was chaired by John Rutledge, with the other members including Edmund Randolph, Oliver Ellsworth, James Wilson, and Nathaniel Gorham.
The Declaration of Independence also acted as an important guide for its summation of ideals of self-government and fundamental human rights.
Most of these were uncontroversial and unchallenged, and as such much of what Rutledge's committee included in this first draft made it into the final version of the constitution without debate.
Historian David Stewart calls the committee's work "the most important single undertaking of the summer" and that it required "precision where agreement was clear, equivocation where it had been elusive."
[6] However, Stewart argues that "they did much more, they added provisions that the convention never discussed, they changed critical agreements that the delegates had already approved.
They had already played important roles in the convention: Randolph presented the Virginia Plan, Rutledge and Wilson had been key to crafting the compromise on representation, Ellsworth had led the small states during the battle over per-state voting in the senate, and Gorham had chaired the Committee of the Whole where he called for compromise during the bitter debate over representation.
"[7] Stewart argues, "Rutledge knew what he wanted: a weaker central government," and that the draft produced by the committee reflected his goals.
The outline began with two rules for drafting: that the constitution should only include essential principles, avoiding minor provisions that would change over time, and that it should be stated in simple and precise language.
Rutledge was not able to completely convince Wilson, who was hostile to states rights and wanted a stronger national government.
This committee included William Samuel Johnson (Connecticut), Alexander Hamilton (New York), Gouverneur Morris (Pennsylvania), James Madison (Virginia), and Rufus King (Massachusetts).