Bill of Rights

Origins of the Bill of Rights

Following the conclusion of the Revolutionary War with Great Britain, there was widespread discontent with the functioning of the new government under the Articles of Confederation. In fact, there were many problems that neither the individual states nor the weak federal government could solve. The Continental Congress passed a resolution calling for a Constitutional Convention to meet in May of 1787 in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation.

The state legislatures chose 74 delegates, but only 55 were able to attend the Constitutional Convention. [Page 75]The delegates elected George Washington as the presiding officer and decided that they would meet behind closed doors and that they would not discuss what was taking place even with their family members.

The delegates to the Constitutional Convention went beyond revising the Articles of Confederation by writing a new Constitution that created three branches of government with specific powers for a strong central government. Each state would have to ratify the new Constitution, and it would go into effect when nine states ratified it. It took two years for nine states to ratify the new Constitution. The emotions and feelings in New York were so strong during the ratification process that the group of men who supported the new Constitution wrote newspaper articles supporting the ratification and became known as The Federalists. The Federalists, who were led by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, wrote 85 articles that together became known as The Federalist Papers. The anti-Federalists responded with their newspaper articles and pointed out the absence of a bill of rights in the Constitution. North Carolina rejected the Constitution because there was no bill of rights.

The founding fathers knew their history; they understood that the powers of a ruler could not easily be restrained but could be limited because of the action of brave men. A significant time that a ruler had his power curtailed occurred on June 15, 1215, when nobles in England rebelled against King John's actions and forced him to sign at Runnymede a document that became known as the Magna Carta. This document enumerated certain rights of the nobles and the responsibilities of the king. The Magna Carta limited the power of the king. The concepts of due process of law and trial by jury of peers can be traced back to this document.

Another historical document, The English Bill of Rights of 1689, provided for the following rights: petition of the king, freedom of speech, freedom from excessive bail, and freedom from the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment. All of these rights eventually would become part of the U.S. Bill of Rights.

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