diff --git a/mercurial/configitems.py b/mercurial/configitems.py
--- a/mercurial/configitems.py
+++ b/mercurial/configitems.py
@@ -396,7 +396,7 @@ coreconfigitem('phases', 'checksubrepos'
     default='follow',
 )
 coreconfigitem('phases', 'new-commit',
-    default=dynamicdefault,
+    default='draft',
 )
 coreconfigitem('phases', 'publish',
     default=True,
diff --git a/mercurial/phases.py b/mercurial/phases.py
--- a/mercurial/phases.py
+++ b/mercurial/phases.py
@@ -619,7 +619,7 @@ def newcommitphase(ui):
     Handle all possible values for the phases.new-commit options.
 
     """
-    v = ui.config('phases', 'new-commit', draft)
+    v = ui.config('phases', 'new-commit')
     try:
         return phasenames.index(v)
     except ValueError: