Page 115 - Beers With Our Founding Fathers

A Patriot’s view of the history and direction of our Country

concerns of, and hoped to further the ratification of the Constitution

by the unanimous states.
The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the

Constitution. They are the rights – the birthrights and rights of
citizenship. These rights empower the People and protect them

from the federal government – they do not empower or protect the
government, nor do they apply to private matters. These

amendments did not protect the people from the state
governments, until provided for in the Fourteenth Amendment.

James Madison initially provided a list of two hundred potential
amendments to address the concerns of the Anti-Federalists. These

were reduced to seventeen, of which twelve were included in the
proposal. Of these twelve, ten were approved and passed

unanimously by the states, clearing the way for unanimous
ratification of the Constitution.

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