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Jacob Shallus
(1750 1796)
Engrosser of the Constitution of the United States
Rather than amend the existing Articles of Confederation , the Federal Convention, meeting in Philadelphia in 1787, decided to draft an entirely new frame of government. All through the summer, in closed sessions, the delegates debated and drafted the new Constitution.
In order to be approved by the Constitutional Convention on Monday, September 17, 1787, the draft had to be copied onto parchment over the weekend. The honor fell to Jacob Shallus, clerk of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
He wrote a very legible script with titles that were engrossed--that is, made larger and darker. His tools were quill pens cut from large feathers, and ink made from oak galls, iron, and gum arabic, often with a colorant such as logwood added to the initially pale ink. Following English practice, Shallus wrote important legal documents on parchment, animal skin that was specially treated with lime and stretched. It was expensive, generally imported from Great Britain, but could be expected to last a very long time. Before beginning to letter, he drew guidelines on the parchment in pale brown crayon. Corrections were difficult to make--words were scraped away with a penknife or inserted carefully in the lines of text, and then listed in an errata paragraph to attest that the approved document was unaltered.
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The U. S. Constitution
