Anonymous ID: 6c36d4 Dec. 15, 2018, 9:31 p.m. No.4330917   🗄️.is đź”—kun

Bill of Rights goes into effect, Dec. 15, 1791

>>4330852

On this day in 1791, the Bill of Rights, a series of 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, went into effect when Virginia ratified the document.

 

Massachusetts lawmakers had refused to ratify the Constitution until its supporters promised to create a Bill of Rights — to be grafted on to the Constitution after the creation of a new federal government.

 

For their part, anti-Federalists feared that a strong federal government would evolve into a monarchical regime of the sort they had rejected by waging the Revolutionary War against Great Britain.

 

Virginia’s action provided the needed three-fourths majority of the states for the amendments to become law. Drafted by James Madison, the nation’s future fourth president, and based on Virginia’s Declaration of Rights, the amendments give the following rights to all U.S. citizens:

 

Freedom of religion, speech and assembly, and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances; the right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of a well-regulated militia; no forcible quartering of soldiers during peacetime; freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures; the right to a grand jury for capital crimes and due process; protection from double jeopardy, self-incrimination, and public confiscation of private property without just compensation; the right to a speedy and public trial by jury and a competent defense; the right to trial by jury in suits greater than $20; protection against excessive bail or fines and cruel and unusual punishments; the understanding that all unenumerated rights are retained by the people; and finally, that the rights not specifically given to the federal government or prohibited to the state governments remain reserved to the people.

 

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/15/bill-of-rights-goes-into-effect-dec-15-1791-288858