Delegates to the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention

The U.S. Constitution was forged on several important compromises: the Great Compromise, which created a bicameral legislature with one house apportioned by population and the other having equal representation for all states, and the ThreeFifths Compromise, which allowed slaves to be counted as three-fifths of a person for representation and tax purposes only. One further compromise was needed in the ratification stage. Many individuals were concerned that certain rights and liberties were not expressly protected in the Constitution. They began demanding that a bill of rights be added to the Constitution before they would agree to ratify it. As the Constitution Convention had already completed its work—and it was unlikely that a new convention would be feasible or as successful as the 1787 Convention—many states...