The Penguin Guide to the United States Constitution Part 5

The Penguin Guide to the United States Constitution Part 5

J. Rutledge


Charles Cotesworth Pinckney


Charles Pinckney


Pierce Butler


GEORGIA.


William Few


Abr. Baldwin


NEW HAMPSHIRE.


John Langdon


Nicholas Gilman


Ma.s.sACHUSETTS.


Nathaniel Gorham


Rufus King


CONNECTICUT.


Wm. Saml. Johnson


Roger Sherman


NEW YORK.


Alexander Hamilton


NEW JERSEY.


Wil. Livingston


David Brearley


Wm. Paterson


Jona. Dayton


PENNSYLVANIA.


B. Franklin


Thomas Mifflin


Robt. Morris


Geo. Clymer


Thos. FitzSimons


Jared Ingersoll


James Wilson


Gouv. Morris


AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSt.i.tUTION.


The framers of the original Const.i.tution a.s.sumed that it was not necessary to include a "bill of rights" in their proposed plan for the union. The ostensible reason for the omission was that most of the state const.i.tutions already possessed bills of rights, and therefore the inclusion of a bill of rights in the federal Const.i.tution would be redundant. Another, more compelling reason may have been that when the idea of a bill of rights was raised in early September by Virginia delegate George Mason, the members of the Convention, tired and desperate to return home, feared that a debate on the subject might extend their stay in Philadelphia by many weeks, if not months.


The omission of a bill of rights proved to be both a tactical and strategic error. When the Const.i.tution was submitted to the states for ratification, many of the critics of the Const.i.tution pointed to the absence of a bill of rights as a fatal flaw in the doc.u.ment. As a consequence, the supporters of the Const.i.tution, who called themselves Federalists, came forward with a promise to make the drafting of a bill of rights the first item of business when the new Congress convened after the ratification of the Const.i.tution. On September 25, 1789, Congress presented to the states twelve amendments, ten of which received the necessary approval of three-quarters of the states on December 15, 1791. It is those ten amendments that are commonly referred to as the Bill of Rights. One of the two amendments not approved, dealing with congressional representation, has not proved of any significance in the operation of the Const.i.tution. The other, dealing with congressional salaries, was eventually incorporated into the Twenty-seventh Amendment.