This Bill of Rights Day, Celebrate the Whole Constitution

Julia Shaw / December 15, 2010

Many Americans praise the first ten amendments to our Constitution, collectively called the Bill of Rights, as providing the true protection of our liberty. But if the Bill of Rights had not been added on December 15, 1791 (which we now celebrate as Bill of Rights Day), would our fundamental liberties still be protected? Would the original Constitution be enough to guard our liberty?

A bill of rights was controversial during the ratification debates over the Constitution. The Anti-Federalists made it their rallying cry. Many founders, though, rejected the inclusion of a bill of rights in the Constitution. In Federalist 84, Alexander Hamilton argued that a bill of rights was, at best, unnecessary to guard liberty and, at worst, an invitation to federal overreach. Bills of rights are “stipulations between kings and their subjects, abridgements of prerogative in favor of privilege, reservations of rights not surrendered to the prince.” (more…)