Virginia Plan
In 1787, Rutledge was selected to represent South Carolina in the Philadelphia Convention which was called to revise the Articles of Confederation, but instead produced the United States Constitution. He attended all the sessions and served on five committees. At the Convention, Rutledge maintained a moderate nationalist stance and chaired the Committee of Detail. After the Convention had debated the Virginia Plan and settled some major points of controversy, the Committee of Detail, which Rutledge chaired, assembled during the convention's July 4 recess. Though the committee did not record its minutes, it is known that the committee used the original Virginia Plan, the decisions of the Convention on modifications to that plan, and other sources, to produce the first full draft. Much of what was included in this draft consisted of details, such as powers given to Congress, that hadn't been debated by the Convention. 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.