History Short: Ratification of the Bill of Rights

The Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15th 1791, when Virginia became the 10th state to approve 10 of the 12 amendments proposed by the First Congress in 1789, making them part of the U.S. Constitution.

The ratification process was led by James Madison, and it addressed Anti-Federalist concerns – Many founders worried that the founding document, our Constitution, failed to explicitly call attention to rights that required protection against abuses of power.

Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison: "A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, and what no just government should refuse."

The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution preserve the most cherished rights as freedom of speech, press, and religion. It’s at the heart of Americans' faith in limited government and crisp codification of natural law.