When was the Bill of Rights written?
Question: When was the Bill of Rights written?
Answer:
The Bill of Rights, a cornerstone of American democracy, was written in 1789 following the ratification of the United States Constitution. James Madison, often referred to as the “Father of the Constitution,” played a pivotal role in drafting these first ten amendments. The creation of the Bill of Rights was a response to concerns raised by Anti-Federalists during the Constitution’s ratification process, who feared that the new government could potentially infringe upon individual liberties.
The process of writing the Bill of Rights began on June 8, 1789, when Madison introduced a series of proposed amendments to the House of Representatives. Over the next several months, these proposals were debated, revised, and refined by both the House and Senate.
The final version, consisting of twelve amendments, was approved by Congress on September 25, 1789, and sent to the states for ratification.
While the Bill of Rights was written in 1789, it did not become officially part of the Constitution until December 15, 1791, when Virginia became the tenth of fourteen states to ratify the amendments.
Interestingly, only ten of the twelve proposed amendments were ratified at this time, forming what we now know as the Bill of Rights. The remaining two amendments were not immediately approved, with one eventually being ratified in 1992 as the 27th Amendment, while the other remains unratified to this day.