what was the last state to ratify the bill of rights
The Constitution of the U.s.a. was written past the delegates to the Constitutional Convention during the summer of 1787. 9 of the 13 states would have to ratify it before it could get into effect for those states. The debate betwixt Federalists (who favored the Constitution) and Anti-Federalists (who did not) raged for months in newspapers, pamphlets, and state legislatures.
The Anti-Federalists had many objections to the Constitution. I of those objections was that it did not have a bill of rights. Bills of rights had been office of the traditional means the British had tried to limit the King's power. And fifty-fifty though the Constitution established a limited regime past the people, many believed a bill of rights was needed.
Thomas Jefferson, who was serving in Paris as ambassador to France, received a copy of the Constitution and was anxious to share his thoughts with Madison.
Jefferson'due south letter objected to "the omission of a Pecker of Rights providing clearly…for freedom of religion, liberty of the press, protection against continuing armies…" (Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, Dec xx, 1787).
The Federalists were worried that listing some rights would leave the ones that were not listed more vulnerable to infringement. Only Jefferson did not share these concerns well-nigh the risks of a partial listing of rights, arguing, "One-half a loaf is better than no bread. If nosotros cannot secure all our rights, permit the states secure what we tin can."
Every bit the ratification process went on in the states, calls for a bill of rights came even from those states that did ratify. Massachusetts ratified the Constitution but sent Congress a listing of proposed amendments. By June 1788, nine states had ratified the Constitution, ensuring information technology would supersede the Articles of Confederation in those states. Notwithstanding, Virginia and New York, big states that were the homes of the very authors of The Federalist Papers, Hamilton and Madison, had not ratified. Madison knew that very serious doubts would be cast on the Constitution if Virginia and New York rejected it.
At the Virginia ratifying convention, Madison and Patrick Henry clashed over the Constitution and federal power. Madison bodacious the delegates that the federal government's powers "are enumerated and extend but to sure cases."
The spectacular orator Henry thundered in response, "The rights of conscience, trial past jury, liberty of the printing, all your immunities and franchises, all pretensions to man rights and privileges, are rendered insecure, if not lost, past this modify" (Patrick Henry, Virginia Convention of the Ratification of the Constitution, 1788).
He urged rejection of the Constitution, arguing that Virginia's refusal to ratify would help bring well-nigh changes to the Constitution.
Ultimately, Madison promised that a bill of rights would be added after ratification. Virginia canonical the Constitution by the narrow margin of 89-79. New York also ratified, but followed Massachusetts and Virginia'southward pb by submitting a list of proposed amendments. Rhode Island and North Carolina refused to ratify without a bill of rights. New York even went so far as to call for a second constitutional convention.
When Madison ran for a seat in the first Congress, he stated, "information technology is my sincere opinion that the Constitution ought to be revised…[to include] the most satisfactory provisions for all essential rights, particularly the rights of Conscience in the fullest breadth, the liberty of the press, trials past jury, security against general warrants &c." (James Madison to George Eve, January 2, 1789).
Influenced past state constitutions, his correspondence with Jefferson, and the Virginia Announcement of Rights, Madison proposed more a dozen changes to Articles I and III in a speech on June 8, 1789. In suggesting these amendments, Madison presented them every bit small additions and word changes, and non equally a list continuing apart from the body of the Constitution. Several congressmen, led by Connecticut's Roger Sherman, objected that Congress had no potency to tamper with the original form of the Constitution. The Business firm agreed with Sherman'due south objection and considered the amendments as a separate list.
The House approved seventeen amendments. Of these seventeen, the Senate canonical twelve. Those twelve were sent to the states for approval, every bit the Constitution directed. Of those twelve, ten were ratified and became the Bill of Rights (1791).
The Bill of Rights is a partial list of limits on the national authorities's power. For example, the natural right of individuals to speak and worship freely was enshrined in the Constitution past the Starting time Subpoena, which prohibits the peoples' representatives in Congress from abridging these rights. The natural right to defend oneself is protected by the 2d Amendment, which stops government from infringing the right of the people to keep and carry artillery. The natural right to be costless from unreasonable government intrusion in i'southward domicile and private papers was safeguarded by the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement.
The Ninth Amendment was added to protect all rights not listed in the Beak of Rights. This subpoena was Madison'due south try to avert his concern about a partial listing of rights. The Tenth Subpoena reinforces the limited nature of the federal government, spelling out the fact that the powers not given to the federal government are kept by the states and the people (except for those powers the Constitution says states practice not accept). This principle of limited authorities was of vital importance to the people. When seven states proposed amendments, the one proposed by all was the principle contained in the Tenth Amendment.
Initially, the provisions of the Bill of Rights applied but to the national government. This principle was affirmed in the Supreme Court 1833 case of Barron five. Baltimore. A Maryland human being sued the urban center of Baltimore when development around the harbor fabricated his formerly-profitable wharf un-usable. His adapt claimed he was due "but compensation" for taken property, as required past the Fifth Subpoena. The Supreme Court, yet, ruled unanimously against him (without fifty-fifty hearing Baltimore's arguments). The Bill of Rights applied only to the national government and was non applicable to state or metropolis governments. Barron would demand to plow to his land constitution for help. Near 100 years after the Pecker of Rights was added to the Constitution, the Supreme Court began using the Fourteenth Amendment (ratified in 1868) to employ (or "incorporate") rights from the Bill of Rights against the states.
The debate did not die in 1791. The add-on of the Bill of Rights brought Federalists and Anti-Federalists together so the Constitution could exist accepted by both sides. The Federalists got their Constitution, and the Anti-Federalists got their Bill of Rights. For some Anti-Federalists like George Mason, though, information technology was a fractional victory that did not settle their worries nigh centralized power.
Source: https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/the-bill-of-rights
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