Timeline Image:
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, Bequest of the Honorable James Bowdoin III
Timeline Story:
Image Caption
James Madison, by Gilbert Stuart, 1805–1807
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, Bequest of the Honorable James Bowdoin III
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History of Congress and the Capitol
The House 1789-1815
History of Congress and the Capitol
The House 1789-1815
What did the newly written Constitution say about freedom of speech? Freedom of religion? Nothing. The drafters of the Constitution were split over whether to list individual rights. Most felt that these were matters for state or local governments. During the first congressional election campaign, however, voters changed the minds of many lawmakers—including Virginia’s James Madison, a primary framer of the Constitution.
Congressman Madison agreed that the Constitution should protect individual rights. But he and others worried that a new round of amendments could get out of hand, reshaping the government before it had a chance to prove itself. Madison carefully boiled down for the House more than 200 proposed amendments into 19 changes listing basic rights. Congress eventually passed 12. The states ratified 10 of these amendments—today’s Bill of Rights.
"[T]he first Congress ... ought to prepare and recommend to the States for ratification, the most satisfactory provisions for all essential rights, particularly the rights of Conscience in the fullest latitude, the freedom of the press, trials by jury, security against general warrants &c."
— Representative James Madison of Virginia, 1789