This Day in History: The Bill of Rights is proposed
On this day in 1789, Congress approves twelve amendments to the United States Constitution. Ultimately, ten of those amendments would be ratified by the states and would become our Bill of Rights. They provide protections for things such as freedom of speech and the right to a trial by jury.
Most modern Americans consider the Bill of Rights to be a bit of a no-brainer, but the founding generation did not agree.
To the contrary, a big debate ensued over the matter when the delegates to the Constitutional Convention completed their work. They had not considered it necessary to include a bill of rights in the new national charter.
So-called anti-Federalists immediately pounced on the omission. They were ready to reject the Constitution altogether!
“There are certain rights which we have always held sacred in the United States,” an anti-Federalist writing under the pseudonym “Federal Farmer” wrote, “and recognized in all our constitutions, and which, by the adoption of the new constitution in its present form, will be left unsecured.”
The state constitutions contained bills of rights. Why not the new federal Constitution? Anti-Federalists thought the omission was dangerous, particularly since laws passed by Congress would be “supreme laws.”
The story continues at the link in the comments.