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Essay on The Bill of Rights

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The Bill of Rights is a list of limitations on the power of the government. Firstly, the Bill of Rights is successful in assuring the adoption of the Constitution. Secondly, the Bill of Rights did not address every foreseeable situation. Thirdly, the Bill of Rights has assured the safety of the people of the nation. Successes, failures, and consequences are what made the Bill of Rights what they are today. Firstly, the Bill of Rights has guaranteed the adoption of the Constitution. James Madison proposed the Bill of Rights to the First Federal Congress on June 8, 1789 (Primary Documents 1). The First Federal Congress then proposed the twelve amendments to the constitution to the state legislatures (Constitutional Politics in Ohio 1). The …show more content…

An agreement was finally made to create the Bill of Rights to help secure ratification of the Constitution itself. Secondly, the Bill of Rights did not address every foreseeable situation. One failure of the Bill of Rights was the first amendment of the original Bill of Rights. The amendment concerned the number of constituents for each Representative and was never ratified. It said that once the House has one hundred members, it should not go below one hundred, and once it reached two hundred, it should not go below two hundred (Mount 1). Another failure was The Anti-Title Amendment. This amendment said that any citizen who accepted or received any title of nobility from a foreign power, or who accepted without the consent of Congress any gift from a foreign power, by would no longer be a citizen (Mount 1). Basically, this said that if someone received or accepted something from a foreign power, that person would no longer be a citizen. The Anti-Title Amendment was submitted to the States in 1810 and was ratified by only twelve states, the last being in 1812 (Mount 1). Thirty-eight states are required to ratify to add an amendment. The Slavery Amendment was another failure of the Bill of Rights. This amendment was not ratified because the House did not want any amendment to be made to the Constitution which would authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any state, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of

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