The origins of the Bill of Rights started during the debate over the ratification of the newly-written Constitution. The Federalists, under James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay supported a strong federal government, supporting the views that a powerful central government was necessary to keep a country together. The opposite view, the fear of a central government becoming too powerful, was championed by Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. The Federalists backed up the Constitution because it upheld a strong federal government over state governments while the Anti-Federalists strongly opposed this in favor of states' rights. To encourage ratification, Madison, Hamilton and Jay wrote the Federalist Papers outlining their views on the idea of a strong central government. Eventually, the Federalists won out and the Constitution was ratified, but only after the Federalists provided certain provisions that protected individual freedoms and state sovereignty. The Bill of Rights are collectively the first ten amendments of the Constitution, a reassurance to the state-rightists in the guarantee of individual freedoms, the limit of government power and the reservation of power to the states and public.
As an aside, Madison presented 12 "rights" that were rejected by the convention.
The anti-federalists wanted a Bill of Rights.
The framers of the Constitution chose Federalism because they wanted both the Federal and State governments to have power. They wanted to ensure that no one group had all of the power.
The Wiggles
Many Anti-Federalists refused to ratify the Constitution without a Bill of Rights to protect the people from the government.
The antifederalists wanted to give more power to the states rather than the federal government. The federalists, on the other hand, wanted an extremely powerful, strong central government. They finally compromised on a constitution when the Bill of Rights were drafted, guaranteeing certain powers to the people and the states.
antifederalists
The framers of the Constitution chose Federalism because they wanted both the Federal and State governments to have power. They wanted to ensure that no one group had all of the power.
The Non-Federalists wanted tha Bill of Rights to ensure that that the Government could not take away the rights of the people.
House of Representatives
enumerated
The Framers of the US Constitution were divided concerning how much power it would give to the federal government. One group called the federalists pushed for a strong government. The anti-federalists feared for their basic civil liberties. The agreement was made to place the Bill of Rights in the new constitution. These were ten citizen rights ranging from the freedom of speech to a fair trial by a jury of one's peers.
James Madison
enumerated
A group of Pennsylvanians who wanted to replace the state constitution also wanted to replace the Articles.
Thomas Jefferson led the group of delegates who refused to support the Constitution until it included a Bill of Rights.
Thomas Jefferson led the group of delegates who refused to support the Constitution until it included a Bill of Rights.
Thomas Jefferson led the group of delegates who refused to support the Constitution until it included a Bill of Rights.
Thomas Jefferson led the group of delegates who refused to support the Constitution until it included a Bill of Rights.