ShareThisOn Dec. 15, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt by proclamation celebrated the first Bill of Rights Day. It was the 150th anniversary of the ratification of those first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, amendments that spelled out our freedoms as well as our rights.
On this 219th anniversary, we would do well to reflect on history for it was history that spawned the Bill of Rights.
When the U.S. Constitution was being drafted in the late 1780s, the idea of a central government wasn't an easy sell. Men of genius had come up with a plan for three governmental branches -- executive, legislative and judicial. And, they had built in checks and balances among the branches. But citizens of the various states -- reflecting on history -- had a healthy fear that a dream of a government serving the people could quickly change to a nightmare of people being subservient to government.
Angry rallies and boycotts ensued. Buckets of tar and bags of feathers were made ready.
To get the Constitution ratified by the states, the framers had to promise there would be a bill of rights to protect individuals from a strong central government. This bill of rights would not be a list of checks and balances between government and the people. It would simply be a list of checks against government to ensure vital freedoms.
It took four years, but in 1791 a list of 10 rights was ratified by enough states to be attached to the Constitution.
Without that list, history books about the United States of America may well be thin, out-of-print tomes.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
