Okla-homey
12/15/2008, 08:05 AM
December 15, 1791: The Bill of Rights becomes law
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/8890/billofrightscroppedlt7.jpg
217 years ago, on this day in 1791, the people of the infant US get an early Christmas gift when Virginia becomes the last state to ratify the Bill of Rights, making the first ten amendments to the Constitution law and completing the revolutionary reforms begun by the Declaration of Independence.
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/116/jamesbillofrightsdayqy5.jpg
The ten Amendments were added as a quid pro quo to Massachusetts. Before the Massachusetts ratifying convention would accept the Constitution, which they finally did in February 1788, the document’s Federalist supporters had to promise to create a Bill of Rights to be amended to the Constitution immediately upon the creation of a new government under the document.
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/3976/jamesmadisonpictureub4.jpg
Portrait of James Madison(1751-1836). Madison authored the Bill of Rights and 29 of the Federalist Papers. He was a member of the Continental Congress, Secretary of State and the 4th President of the United States.
The Anti-Federalist critics of the document, who were afraid that a too-strong federal government would become just another sort of the monarchical regime from which they had recently been freed, believed that the Constitution gave too much power to the federal government by outlining its rights but failing to delineate the rights of the individuals living under it. The promise of a Bill of Rights to do just that helped to assuage the Anti-Federalists’ concerns.
The newly elected Congress drafted the Bill of Rights on December 25, 1789. The Bill of Rights remains the world's oldest body of law limiting national governmental power as to all the citizens* of the nation.**
Virginia’s ratification on this day in 1791 created the three-fourths majority necessary for the ten amendments to become law. Drafted by James Madison and loosely based on Virginia’s Declaration of Rights, the first ten amendments give the following rights to all United States citizens:
1. Freedom of religion, speech and assembly
2. Right to keep and bear arms
3. No forcible quartering of soldiers during peacetime
4. Freedom from unreasonable search and seizure/arrest
5. Right to a grand jury for capital crimes and due process. Protection from double jeopardy, self-incrimination and public confiscation of private property without “just compensation.”
6. Right to “speedy and public” trial by jury and a lawyer if charged with a serious crime
7. Right to trial by jury in civil cases involving more than $20
8. Protection against “excessive” bail or fines and “cruel and unusual” punishments
9. Rights not enumerated are “retained by the people”
10. Rights not given to the federal government or prohibited the state governments by the Constitution, “are reserved to the States... or to the people”
It should be noted that initially, the Bill of Rights only limited the power of the Federal government. Over the succeeeding centuries, various US Supreme Court decisions held that most of the Amendments were applicable to limit the power of State and local governments as well.
* At this stage in our history, slaves and Indians were'nt "citizens." Slavery was finally banned and US citizenship granted to former slaves in 1866. Indians were granted citizenship in 1924 by the Indian Citizenship Act.
** The Magna Carta generally only limited the power of the Crown as to the English nobility, not common folks.
http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/7889/insane7zowh7.jpg
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/8890/billofrightscroppedlt7.jpg
217 years ago, on this day in 1791, the people of the infant US get an early Christmas gift when Virginia becomes the last state to ratify the Bill of Rights, making the first ten amendments to the Constitution law and completing the revolutionary reforms begun by the Declaration of Independence.
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/116/jamesbillofrightsdayqy5.jpg
The ten Amendments were added as a quid pro quo to Massachusetts. Before the Massachusetts ratifying convention would accept the Constitution, which they finally did in February 1788, the document’s Federalist supporters had to promise to create a Bill of Rights to be amended to the Constitution immediately upon the creation of a new government under the document.
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/3976/jamesmadisonpictureub4.jpg
Portrait of James Madison(1751-1836). Madison authored the Bill of Rights and 29 of the Federalist Papers. He was a member of the Continental Congress, Secretary of State and the 4th President of the United States.
The Anti-Federalist critics of the document, who were afraid that a too-strong federal government would become just another sort of the monarchical regime from which they had recently been freed, believed that the Constitution gave too much power to the federal government by outlining its rights but failing to delineate the rights of the individuals living under it. The promise of a Bill of Rights to do just that helped to assuage the Anti-Federalists’ concerns.
The newly elected Congress drafted the Bill of Rights on December 25, 1789. The Bill of Rights remains the world's oldest body of law limiting national governmental power as to all the citizens* of the nation.**
Virginia’s ratification on this day in 1791 created the three-fourths majority necessary for the ten amendments to become law. Drafted by James Madison and loosely based on Virginia’s Declaration of Rights, the first ten amendments give the following rights to all United States citizens:
1. Freedom of religion, speech and assembly
2. Right to keep and bear arms
3. No forcible quartering of soldiers during peacetime
4. Freedom from unreasonable search and seizure/arrest
5. Right to a grand jury for capital crimes and due process. Protection from double jeopardy, self-incrimination and public confiscation of private property without “just compensation.”
6. Right to “speedy and public” trial by jury and a lawyer if charged with a serious crime
7. Right to trial by jury in civil cases involving more than $20
8. Protection against “excessive” bail or fines and “cruel and unusual” punishments
9. Rights not enumerated are “retained by the people”
10. Rights not given to the federal government or prohibited the state governments by the Constitution, “are reserved to the States... or to the people”
It should be noted that initially, the Bill of Rights only limited the power of the Federal government. Over the succeeeding centuries, various US Supreme Court decisions held that most of the Amendments were applicable to limit the power of State and local governments as well.
* At this stage in our history, slaves and Indians were'nt "citizens." Slavery was finally banned and US citizenship granted to former slaves in 1866. Indians were granted citizenship in 1924 by the Indian Citizenship Act.
** The Magna Carta generally only limited the power of the Crown as to the English nobility, not common folks.
http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/7889/insane7zowh7.jpg