GHQ Original Draft | Birth of the Constitution of Japan

3-14 GHQ Original Draft

Within Government Section were established eight committees for constitutional drafting in each field such as legislative power, authority of the executive and so on, and also the Steering Committee for overall managing and monitoring. In a meeting on February 4, Brigadier General Whitney ordered the staff of Government Section to move forward with the drafting efforts in absolute secrecy, and gave it unrestricted priority. The draft proposals from the committees were finished one after another from February 7, and the original drafts were created after discussions with the Steering Committee. The Committee also edited the drafts to bring together the 92 articles to produce the final draft.

These documents are a record of the progression of the work that was done in Government Section. It is possible to follow the series of steps taken during this period, from the minutes of the meeting on February 4, to the drafts proposed by each committee to be discussed in front of the Steering Committee, the minutes of the meetings between each committee and the Steering Committee, and finally the original drafts produced based on these discussions.

Actual Title of Source	Summary Report on Meeting of the Government Section, 4 February 1946
Date	[February 4, 1946]
Document Number	Alfred Hussey Papers; Constitution File No. 1, Doc. No. 4
Repository (reproduction)
Repository	National Diet Library
Note

Actual Title of Source	[Drafts of the Revised Constitution]
Date	[February 1946]
Document Number	Hussey Papers :"24-A Draft of the ‘Preamble' to the Revised Constitution" through "24-I Drafts of Chapter ten, ‘Supreme Law,' of the Revised Constitution" <YE-5, Roll No. 5>
Repository (reproduction)	National Diet Library
Repository	Asia Library, University of Michigan
Note	Microfilm

Actual Title of Source	[Ellerman Notes on Minutes of Government Section, Public Administration Division Meetings and Steering Committee Meetings between 5 February and 12 February inclusive]
Date	[February 5 to 12, 1946]
Document Number	Alfred Hussey Papers; Constitution File No. 1, Doc. No. 7
Repository (reproduction)
Repository	National Diet Library
Note

Actual Title of Source	[Original drafts of committee reports]
Date	[February 1946]
Document Number	Alfred Hussey Papers; Constitution File No. 1, Doc. No. 8
Repository (reproduction)
Repository	National Diet Library
Note

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