They did cede authority, yes. But as should be obvious the Bill of Rights doesn’t consist of authority, but rights. He can you cede rights in order to point to them? The formulation makes no sense. Quit apart from that is the fact that they contain restraints on the central government which the states had no intention whatsoever to apply to themselves.
No, the Bill of Rights were not some national charter of rights against all government. It was specifically drawn up and ratified because people wanted guarantees against the proposed federal government. For this very reason Madison said they were unnecessary, considering the feds were only supposed to do what they were granted the power to do. But others argued, and successfully, that’d never stop them.
The BoR is a list of Rights that are not ceded to any authority as stipulated. Period.
Mason, Gallatin, and Jefferson frown on your conclusion that the BoR isn’t a list of our Rights against all government.
http://constitution.org/cons/quotes01.txt