Courtesy of Library of Congress, Madison, James, "Amendment to the U.S. Constitution," U.S. Congress, 25 September 1789
Description
On September 25, 1789, the first Congress of the United States proposed 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Ten of the proposed 12 amendments were ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures on December 15, 1791. The ratified articles (Articles 3–12) constitute the first 10 amendments of the Constitution or the U.S. Bill of Rights. In 1992, 203 years after it was proposed, Article 2 was ratified as the 27th Amendment to the Constitution. Article 1 was never ratified.
Transcript of the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution
Source-Dependent Questions
- How did the Bill of Rights become part of the U.S. Constitution? Were all of the proposed changes accepted?
- How do the Bill of Rights prevent someone from thinking these are the only rights Americans have?
Citation Information
Madison, James, "Amendment to the U.S. Constitution," U.S. Congress, 25 September 1789. Courtesy of Library of Congress