This thesis examines the effect of delegate ideology on delegate verbosity at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. It continues recent trends in the field of American political development in applying quantitative methods to investigate how and why political phenomena occur. The thesis makes use of original data on delegate verbosity at the Constitutional Convention gathered by the author. Controlling for alternative explanations of delegate participation in debate, statistical analysis reveals that more ideologically extreme Convention delegates, particularly those who favored a stronger and more energetic national government, were more likely to participate.