The work of the Convention was practically completed on the twenty-first
day. The various articles had each been considered and adopted, first in
Committee of the whole, then in Convention, then referred to the
Committee on Phraseology and Arrangement, and, after report of that
Committee, again considered by sections and adopted. But so anxious were
the members that every word used should be the right word, expressing
the idea intended most clearly and directly, that when the reading of
the completed Constitution was finished, on the morning of the 21st day,
it was decided to refer it to a special committee, consisting of Messrs.
Ingalls, Winchell, Ross and Slough, for further revision and
verification. This Committee reported the same afternoon, and again the
Constitution was read by sections, for final revision, with the same
painstaking carefulness and attention to the minutest details. All that
afternoon, and all the next day, with brief interruptions for action on
other closing work, this revision went on, and it was five o’clock in
the afternoon of the 29th before the last section was perfected. Then
occurred one of the most dramatic scenes of the Convention. Mr.
Hutchinson submitted a resolution declaring that “we do now adopt and
proceed to sign the Constitution.”