who invented the U.S Bill Of Rights...??!!?

Question

Hii..
I was wondering who invented the Bill Of Rights, And where.....
thank you

I MEAN WHO WROTE IT...

Answer 1

The person most directly responsible for the form and content of the "Bill of Rights" in the U.S. Constitution was James Madison, but it is not as if he came up with all of these things himself, nor did they begin in quite their current form. In fact, at first he didn't even WANT one!

Rather:

1) The notion of a "Bill of Rights" goes back in the history of the English law and (mostly unwritten) 'Constitution'. Perhaps the most significant background document for the list found in the U.S. Constitution may be the "English Bill of Rights" of 1689, a legal document of Parliament which justified the "Glorious Revolution" in which James II was deposed and William & Mary were installed. Included in the list of 'particulars' against James is an expression of the RIGHTS of British citizens.

See the text here:
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/england.htm

Note that some of their language (used in other contexts as well) is echoed in the US Bill of Rights, but ALSO in the Declaration of Independence, a document which had the similar purpose of listing reasons for rejecting the rule of a particular king. (That is, some of the grievances listed in the Declaration are expressed a century before in this document by Parliament!) This fits in with the whole notion that a core issue of the American Revolution was the effort of colonists to establish/retain what they saw as their rights as British citizens.

A further expression of several of the rights incorporated in the US Bill of Rights is found in the Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776) penned by George Mason.
http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/virginia_declaration_of_rights.html


2) The DEMAND for a "Bill of Rights" in the Constitution came from a number of those who OPPOSED ratifying the document, including George Mason whose influence was considerable in the key state of Virginia. These men feared that the new stronger federal government would fall into the same abuses that had pushed them to break from British rule, and wanted explicit assurances.

Many supporters of the Constitution, including Madison and Washington, did not at first see the need for such explicit protections. They understood the Constitution to limit the federal government to those powers listed in it.

But Madison relented to gain support for the Constitution and to AVOID the possibility of critics calling a NEW Constitutional convention which would threaten to undo the work of the first one. He later convinced Washington of the wisdom of this move. (Consequently Washington appealed to Congress to do so, which was a significant help in securing the passage of these amendments.)

3) Madison collected MANY proposed amendments from various state leaders (that is, he didn't just create his own list).. This he distilled to a list of seventeen.... which eventually, in part though Congressional debate and votes was reduced to twelve that passed.

Madison actually introduced NINETEEN amendments, of which 17 (with edits) later passed the House. But after further action by the Senate that number was reduced to 12 (of which # 3-12 became known as the "Bill of Rights", #2 was finally ratified as the 27th amendment in 1992, #1 [concerning Congressional apportionment] failed to win ratification).

4) Madison's preference was for the amendments to be inserted at appropriate places WITHIN the Constitution and so to be 'integrated' as a clear part OF the document. But others wished to have them set apart as a clear (unified?) statement of the RIGHTS retained by the people, and Madison acquiesced. (This, of course, set the pattern for all subsequent amendments, even those specifically altering a provision of the original document.)


You might be interested in the following recent book which explores Madison's work, beginning with the Constitutional Convention, including his election to Congress (not all that simple it turned out!), his taking over as a 'floor manager' in this matter, and the process by which he gained passage of these amendments. (Our local library just got it -- I'll have to check it out!)

*James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights* by Richard Labunski (Oxford University Press, 2006) [released on the 4th of July --not accident, I'm sure!]

Answer 2

Be a bit pretentious for Americans to feel they have the ability to grant rights to citizens of other countries They did not invent they added to these right Many of the founding fathers wanted to grant the rights to black slaves but could not as they were about to go to war with the most powerful country in the world at the time a ruthless country If they granted slaves rights the south would have seceded from the union and we would have been defeated As an aside slavery was outlawed in one state before 1776 and outlawed in the north of America before the U K and europe Americans addressed this issue long before and slavery was introduced under British rule Good God Almighty I do hope these are not American responders Do the words ''God given rights'' ring a bell? Those words start the whole thing going You down there those words were in the treaty after our invasion of Tripoli we were dealing with a Muslim nation that were upset with the crusades and we were telling them that religion does not control our government basically telling them we not ruled by the Church of England nor the Catholic church.Absolute total B/s to take words from a treaty and apply them to our Bill of Rights and Constitution How intellectual dishonest but how liberal I'm sure you would have much to say about the evils of Manifest Destiny

Answer 3

The U.S Bill of Rights were written by James Madison in 1789, they are based on the English Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta.

Answer 4

James Madison, and because a lot of people were afraid that without them the president could be like a king.

Answer 5

They were mostly written by James Madison. Originally there were several amendments but they narrowed it down to ten.