Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution Volume 2: Ratification by the States: Pennsylvania

Edited by Jensen, Kaminski, Saladino, Leffler, Schoenleber, and Hogan

Pennsylvania was the first state to call for a convention to debate ratification of the Constitution in September, 1787. Pennsylvania elected delegates on November 6 for the convention which was held from November 20 to December 15, 1787. On December 12 Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the Constitution, following the first state Delaware by only five days. Pennsylvania was the first large and populous state to ratify the Constitution, and the state's quick action on the constitution motivated the other states to action.

The second volume of "The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution" is devoted to the dialogue concerning ratification in Pennsylvania. The volume encompasses well over seven-hundred pages of Pennsylvania legislative records, personal papers and records, newspapers, magazines, Journals of the Pennsylvania Convention, notes taken by delegates and private reporters, and pamphlets and broadsides printed both at government expense and by private printers.