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revolutionary-war-flag. online image. 26 August 2010.
Problem: Early America had no set of defined rights as a citizen.
Causes: The Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Continental Congress in November, 1777. They established a weak central government, in which individual states had sovereignty, to prevent abuse like that which they had suffered under British rule. However, the Articles also excluded any kind of guaranteed rights for citizens.
The Articles of Confederation posed many serious issues for America. The federal government consisted of thirteen delegates, each from a different state, who met once a year. In order to pass laws, approve treaties, or declare war, the Articles required a unanimous vote. The Articles also denied the federal government the right to collect taxes, preventing the United States from establishing an army. These problems led concerned politicians to meet secretly and write a new basis for government. This became the Constitutional Convention.
Solutions: -Some individual states included a bill of rights, a list of liberties guaranteed to citizens, in their separate constitutions. This solution failed on a national scale. -James Madison drafted a bill of rights after Virginia's bill of rights, and presented it to the Constitutional convention for consideration. Federalists opposed it on the grounds that if we spell out our rights, we will only be given those rights. Anti-federalists refused to ratify the new constitution without a bill of rights. The convention eventually condensed the list into ten amendments, which went into effect December 15, 1791. The original ten excluded slaves, indentured servents, women, and native Americans. Since then, seventeen more Amendments have been added, and citizenship has been granted to minorities.
bill-of-rights-01. online image. 26 August 2010.
Const_Convv. online image. 26 August 2010.
