The first 10 amendments of our Constitution, also known as The Bill of Rights, were added back in 1791 to protect the rights individuals have. 
While the creation of this document may have happened decades ago, The Bill of Rights still plays a huge role in our lives today. From freedom of speech and religion to the right to bear arms, The Bill of Rights guarantees every American citizen fundamental rights and freedoms. In this article, we will dive deeper into the history and significance of this document and how it continues to play a role in our society every day.
To talk about The Bill of Rights, we must first have a clear understanding of what the Constitution is as a whole. In simple terms, the Constitution is the supreme law of the United States. It establishes the structure of our government, protects individual rights, limits the power of the government, and serves as a model for other nations seeking to establish a democratic government. As you can probably tell by now, the Constitution plays a huge role in our society today. The Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and took effect on March 4th, 1789. Even though this document was made many years ago, it still remains as one of the most important and useful documents today. But did you know that it was almost rejected by the states?
When the Constitution was proposed, many people thought that it was necessary to add in a Bill of Rights to protect the individual rights and freedoms of people. In fact, this was something that several states demanded to be added in as a condition of their approval. Their demands were met by a man named James Madison, also known as “The Father of The Constitution.”
James Madison drafted the original Bill of Rights in 1789. This initial proposal was then reviewed by the First Federal Congress and went through multiple rounds of revision before finally being sent out to the states for ratification. The first 10 amendments were officially ratified by the necessary amount of states on December 15, 1791, and became what we now know today as the Bill of Rights. Some people opposed the Bill of Rights because they thought that it was unnecessary. This disagreement was one of the many between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. In short terms, the Federalists were people who believed that the federal or national government should hold more power than the states, while the Anti-Federalists believed that the majority of the power should remain with the states. The two sides had opposite opinions on many topics, one of them being the Bill of Rights. The Federalists thought that a Bill of Rights was unnecessary and could end up being hurtful to the citizens since it could imply that any rights not specifically mentioned were not guaranteed. This concern was addressed by the 9th amendment, which states that people have rights that are not specifically stated in the Constitution.
Something that many people may not know is that the original Bill of Rights proposed by James Madison actually contained 12 amendments, but the first two did not receive approval from the necessary amount of states. Amendments 3-12 became what we now know as the Bill of Rights. The first of these two rejected amendments were written to determine how members of the House of Representatives would be distributed among the states. The point of this amendment was to make sure that the representatives would continue to represent smaller groups of people and their thoughts as the population continued to grow. It also aimed to prevent the House of Representatives from getting too small and turning into an oligarchy, which is just a fancy word for a small group of people in charge. Even though this amendment was never ratified, the process of appointing members into the House of Representatives and the total number of representatives is still set by the Constitution.
The Second Amendment that failed to be passed forbade Congress from giving themselves a pay raise. It stated that any changes to the salary would only take effect at the beginning of the next Congress. While this amendment was not passed at the time because it failed to receive the necessary amount of state ratifications, a college student noticed something interesting about this in 1982. Since there was no official time limit for the states to ratify this amendment, it was still “alive.” Gregory Watson, who was the college student behind this discovery, organized an effort to get this amendment ratified by the required amount of states. This effort worked, and in 1992 this amendment was added as the 27th amendment in our Constitution.
Another little fact that you may not know is that there are 14 original copies of The Bill of Rights. One was made for the federal government to keep,and the others were passed out to the original 13 colonies. Currently, Georgia, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania are missing their copies. North Carolina’s copy had been lost for over 100 years after being stolen by a Union soldier during the Civil War. It was recovered in 2003 with the help of The National Constitution Center.
To summarize everything we have learned so far, the Bill of Rights plays a huge role in our day-to-day lives by guaranteeing us fundamental freedoms and rights. These 10 amendments were written decades ago by the Founding Fathers and aim to prevent the abuse of power by the government. The Bill of Rights is a living document, which means that as we as a society continue to evolve, so does this document. Regardless of any ongoing debates about amendments and what they mean, The Bill of Rights remains a critical component of the success of our government. It serves as a reminder that the power of those in charge comes from the people, and that those people must be respected to have a well-functioning society.
If you learned something new today and want more in-depth articles about everything from amendments to court cases, look no further. Every month, Themistice covers a new topic in full detail, so you can continue to learn more about your country. Come back soon, and you’ll learn everything there is to know about the first amendment.
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