The creation of the United States’ Constitution was a difficult process. James Madison and his allies brought about the Constitutional Convention, which began on 25 May 1787, but opinions among the delegates differed enormously. Over the next four months 55 individuals would debate, argue and negotiate over everything from general principles to exact wording. This copy, annotated by Pierce Butler, a delegate from South Carolina, dates from 6 August. The annotations and differences in wording from the final version demonstrate the challenges faced during the negotiations, as well as the care taken over every aspect of the text.

As a major slave-owner, Butler was keen to preserve the rights of southern planters. He was responsible for inserting the Fugitive Slave Clause into the Constitution, which appears here in his handwriting in the margin of Article XI, Section 15. Pierce’s influence can also be seen in Article VI, Section 4, where he has edited the document in order to restrict the ability of the national government to prohibit ‘the migration and importation’ of people – a euphemistic reference to the international slave trade.

Pierce’s notes also reflect wider debates, in particular questions over national versus state power, and the relative weight given to each state in the U.S. Legislature. By the time this document was produced the second of these questions had largely been resolved. Initial deadlock between the larger states, which favored representation based on population, and smaller states, which wanted equal representation for all, had been overcome by the Great Compromise. Under this agreement the House of Representatives was elected proportionally, while the Senate was made up of one (later two) people from each state. The residue of the deadlock can be seen in Butler’s notes on the House of Representatives, which clarify how future changes in state size might be accommodated by the agreement. The second major issue, regarding the power of the national government, is also revealed as a major concern – those sections dealing with the respective powers of the U.S. Legislature, the President and the individual states are all heavily annotated in order to clarify the wording of statements or offer additional comment.

Butler, like many members at the Convention, was seeking to create a foundation on which a strong national government could be established, without allowing that government to grow too powerful. The delegates were concerned by the inherent weakness of a loose confederacy, something that affected the opening line of the document they produced: in this version, ‘we the people’ are described as coming from thirteen separate states; by September, they were described as ‘we the people of the United States’. Yet the fear of over-mighty governments and individuals meant that the framers of the Constitution sought to create a text that was as much about restricting central power as establishing it. Numerous checks and balances were built into the national political system for this very reason. The Constitution was also limited in its scope; it was up to future generations to fill in the details. These features of the document helped resolve concerns and debates at its inception. They also laid the foundation for future political frustrations and persistent legal debates, all while ultimately succeeding in the main ambition of the framers: to simultaneously create and restrict a united national government.