Bill of Rights
From Judgepedia
On September 12, five days before the Convention adjourned, George Mason and Elbridge Gerry raised the question of adding a bill of rights to the Constitution. Said Mason: "It would give great quiet to the people; and with the aid of the State declarations, a bill might be prepared in a few hours." But the motion of Gerry and Mason to appoint a committee for the purpose of drafting a bill of rights was rejected.1 Again, on September 14, Pinckney and Gerry sought to add a provision "that the liberty of the Press should be inviolably observed—." But after Sherman observed that such a declaration was unnecessary, because "[t]he power of Congress does not extend to the Press," this suggestion too was rejected.2 It cannot be known accurately why the Convention opposed these suggestions. Perhaps the lateness of the Convention, perhaps the desire not to present more opportunity for controversy when the document was forwarded to the States, perhaps the belief, asserted by the defenders of the Constitution when the absence of a bill of rights became critical, that no bill was needed because Congress was delegated none of the powers which such a declaration would deny, perhaps all these contributed to the rejection.3
In any event, the opponents of ratification soon made the absence of a bill of rights a major argument,4 and some friends of the document, such as Jefferson,5 strongly urged amendment to include a declaration of rights.6 Several state conventions ratified while urging that the new Congress to be convened propose such amendments, 124 amendments in all being put forward by these States.7 Although some dispute has occurred with regard to the obligation of the first Congress to propose amendments, Madison at least had no doubts8 and introduced a series of proposals,9 which he had difficulty claiming the interest of the rest of Congress in considering. At length, the House of Representatives adopted 17 proposals; the Senate rejected two and reduced the remainder to twelve, which were accepted by the House and sent on to the States10 where ten were ratified and the other two did not receive the requisite number of concurring States.11
