Madison’s Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention

Madison's Notes with his revisions remain the most prominent remnants of the Convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. What does it mean to take seriously that Madison's notes on the Convention are notes? Two hundred and twenty-five years after Madison first wrote the Notes, changing technology makes it possible to revisit the manuscript. This paper will suggest that Madison revised his notes far more extensively than has been previously understood. The revised notes demonstrate that Madison's understanding of the Convention, the Constitution, and his own role changed dramatically between May 1787 and the end of the eighteenth century.