06/08/2026
We are so thankful the Founding Fathers added the Bill of Rights after ratifying the United States Constitution!
Enjoy some facts about our American History as we celebrate the 250th Anniversary of American Freedom!
We hope your home is staying cool this summer, but if you come home from a hard working day to find your unit is DEAD, Call HEAD!
in , 1789, introduced the Bill of Rights. “If all power is subject to abuse,” he told , the amendments are not only “an impenetrable bulwark against every assumption of power”—but a “declaration of the rights of the people.”
Many Americans assume the an original part of the . But a surprising number of Framers did not think it necessary, including Madison himself. At the Constitutional Convention, it “never struck the mind of any member,” a delegate conceded. That is, until the convention's final days when George Mason called for the inclusion of an explicit list of personal liberties—a motion which failed.
Many believed that delineating some rights—but not others—made those not included more vulnerable to abuse. But as historian Joseph J. Ellis has also speculated, “basically, the delegates were exhausted after a summer of intense work and wanted to go home.” This proved problematic, though, during the ’s ratification debates.
Federalists therefore began promising the states that, if the Constitution was ratified, the First Congress would pass a bill or rights. Due in part to this pledge, the Constitution was ratified, and Madison won a tough congressional race against James Monroe.
Once Congress convened, the states proposed more than 200 amendments, many “highly objectionable” to Madison. They included unequal branches of government or state supremacy—evoking the failed Articles of Confederation. For this reason, Madison sought to control the amendment process to ensure passage, and to protect the Constitution. Of the 12 amendments that Congress ultimately sent to the states, 10 were ratified as the Bill of Rights we know today.
These rights went on to placate those fearful of a powerful—and potentially tyrannical—federal government. But just as importantly, they helped to engrain certain unalienable rights into a bourgeoning ethos.
Like today, unity was never guaranteed. Only the values that connect us as Americans.
in Photo: Capitol flanked by a Flag
