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The first 10 amendments to the Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. James Madison wrote the amendments, which list specific prohibitions on governmental power, in response to calls from several states for greater constitutional protection for individual liberties.
For example, the Founders saw the ability to speak and worship freely as a natural right protected by the First Amendment. Congress is prohibited from making laws establishing religion or abridging freedom of speech. Federalists argued that the Constitution did not need a bill of rights, because the people and the states kept any powers not given to the federal government. Anti-Federalists held that a bill of rights was necessary to safeguard individual liberty.
Madison, then a member of the U. However, several representatives, led by Roger Sherman, objected, saying that Congress had no authority to change the wording of the Constitution. The House approved 17 amendments. Of these, the Senate approved 12, which were sent to the states for approval in August The Convention also adopted scores of other compromises in forming each of the three branches of the national government and the relationship between this government and the states. When the Convention reported the Constitution to the states for ratification, the nation split between Federalist supporters of the new document and Anti-Federalist opponents, who were especially concerned that it did not, like most state counterparts, have a bill of rights of the 11 state constitutions in place in the years after independence, 7 had bills of rights.
To ensure ratification of the document, the Federalists offered concessions, and the First Congress proposed a Bill of Rights as protection for those fearful of a strong national government. The Bill of Rights came into effect in December , after ratification by three-fourths of the state legislatures. The level of support for the new Constitution varied.
During the debate over its ratification, the Federalists grounded their support for the document in the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation. In late October , the first in a series of 85 essays appeared in print bearing the pen name Publius.
They presented a succinct series of arguments that, even today, are revered in the annals of political theory. The essays addressed the manner in which the new republican government, based on federalism and separation of powers, would guard against the tyranny of interest groups and other threats.
However, the Anti-Federalists were not convinced that these safeguards were adequate. Led by George Mason , Patrick Henry , and Elbridge Gerry, the Anti-Federalists wrote their own essays, basing their arguments on the tyranny of the British monarchy so resented by the 13 original colonies.
This faction sought additional protections that would guard against an overly centralized and oppressive national government. Ratification of the U. Constitution was a slow and arduous process. Thus from the ashes of the Articles of Confederation emerged a federal system with enduring features such as republicanism, separated institutional powers, and a system of checks and balances.
The Constitution set forth the institutional structures, players, processes, and procedures for governing the new nation through a series of seven articles. Despite the seemingly apparent victory achieved in ratifying the Constitution, the founders failed to resolve the continuing debate over limiting the powers of the national government. As Alexander Hamilton remarked in Federalist No.
James Madison , who appears to have been influenced on the subject by Thomas Jefferson , took the lead in the First Congress in composing the Bill of Rights. Although the list of rights and liberties suggested by the former colonies was extensive, Madison narrowed it to 12 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights. Ten of these amendments became part of the U. Constitution in after securing the approval of the required three-fourths of the states.
Image via Wikimedia Commons , painted by John Vanderlyn , public domain. The First Amendment, one of the more symbolic and litigious of the amendments, guarantees fundamental rights such as freedom of religion, speech, and the press, and the rights to assemble peacefully and to petition the government. The establishment clause of the First Amendment has been interpreted as calling for separation of church and state.
This separation has been observed through various legal precedents and U. This doctrine has been further reinforced through a three-part Lemon test , named for the Supreme Court decision Lemon v. The First Amendment also addresses freedom of expression. The free expression clause guarantees the rights of individuals and the press to speak freely about issues, even those deemed controversial. Freedom of speech has generated substantial debate and legal controversy.
United States provides the means for deciding whether a particular speech is protected by the First Amendment. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
What is the Scope of the Bill of Rights? The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. State and Local Governments. The first 10 amendments to the Constitution make up the Bill of Rights.
James Madison wrote the amendments, which list specific prohibitions on governmental power, in response to calls from several states for greater constitutional protection for individual liberties. For example, the Founders saw the ability to speak and worship freely as a natural right protected by the First Amendment. Congress is prohibited from making laws establishing religion or abridging freedom of speech.
Federalists argued that the Constitution did not need a bill of rights, because the people and the states kept any powers not given to the federal government. Anti-Federalists held that a bill of rights was necessary to safeguard individual liberty.
Madison, then a member of the U. However, several representatives, led by Roger Sherman, objected, saying that Congress had no authority to change the wording of the Constitution. The House approved 17 amendments. Of these, the Senate approved 12, which were sent to the states for approval in August
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