ABSTRACT
The delegates to the Constitutional Convention first considered adopting a bill of rights on September 12, 1787, just five days before the Convention adjourned. Throughout the Constitutional Convention, the delegates articulated their beliefs that citizens possess certain rights regardless whether they were included within or omitted from the Constitution or the Articles of Confederation. Meeting in the same legislative chamber where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution had been adopted, the Pennsylvania convention was dominated throughout by a decisive Federalist majority. None of the Pennsylvania delegates denied that there were rights belonging to the people that were not enumerated in the Constitution. On the afternoon of December 12, 1787, five days after Delaware had unanimously ratified the Constitution, the Pennsylvania convention readied itself to vote on ratification. The Pennsylvania convention thereupon ratified the Constitution by the identical margin, with no delegate having changed his position.
