The North Carolina Provincial Congress met in Hillsborough from August 20–September 10, 1775, at the outset of the American Revolution. The North Carolina General Assembly met here in 1778, 1782, and 1783. The town was also the site of the first North Carolina ratifying convention, which met July 21–August 2, 1788 to deliberate and determine whether or not to ratify the Constitution recommended to the states by the Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia the previous summer. With the hope of effecting the incorporation of a Bill of Rights into the frame of government, delegates voted (184–84) to neither ratify nor reject the Constitution. During the bicentennial celebration of the writing and ratification of the Constitution, a historical marker was placed at the site (now the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church) commemorating the convention.