Today is a day when we should all take a moment and think about our freedoms and how fortunate we are to have them. America has always been the “land of the free,” and a lot of that freedom is because of our Constitution.
Today is Bill of Rights Day. The first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution make up the Bill of Rights — passed by Congress on September 25, 1789. The Constitution was a fledgling document that had barely been tested, when James Madison introduced his proposal for amending it on June 8, 1789. Included in his proposal were several protections states had requested during their conventions to ratify the Constitution. Some members of the House of Representatives resisted any amendment to the Constitution and House members had lots of reasons for delaying review. The House agreed to postpone the debate on Madison’t proposal and took it up again before the whole House on July 21.
Madison initially proposed 19 amendments. the House whittled it down to 17 before sending it to the Senate. Congress finally sent 12 amendments to the states to ratify. On December 15, 1791, the states ratified 10 of the 12 proposed amendments sent to them — those 10 amendments are referred to as the Bill of Rights.
There were 14 copies of the Bill of Rights printed — one for each of the 12 states to sign and one for the federal archives. Only 12 copies survive today. The Bill of Rights is displayed in The Rotunda of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared Bill of Rights Day on December 15, 1941, recognizing the history and importance of the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution — here’s his proclamation:
“Now, Therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate December 15, 1951, as Bill of Rights Day. And I call upon the officials of the Government, and upon the people of the United States, to observe the day by displaying the flag of the United States on public buildings and by meeting together for such prayers and such ceremonies as may seem to the appropriate.”
Today we should be grateful that the framers of the Constitution saw fit to provide a process to amend the document. I’m pretty sure the Bill of Rights could never get through Congress today. We’re lucky — we have the Bill of Rights… what we need today is a Bill of Responsibilities.
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