Why Have a Bill of Rights?

What rights are guaranteed in the Constitution?

Today, when politicians and pundits use the terms “constitutional” and “unconstitutional,” they are typically referring to not just the original document, but to the provisions of the Bill of Rights—the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. How and why these amendments were added so quickly to the Constitution, and what they tell us about the nature of an individual’s relationship to our federal government, continue to shape our political discourse to the present day.

The Framers wrote the Constitution in order to establish a strong federal government and to address some of the problems that resulted from the weakness of the federal government under the earlier Articles of Confederation. The document they wrote in 1787 reflects the fact that the United States was a federation of individual states, each with its own government. While a majority of politicians at the time agreed with the need for the strong federal government established by the Constitution, others still remembered the sting of British tyranny and believed the new government would infringe the rights of the states and individual citizens. The Bill of Rights was quickly added to the Constitution as a compromise between these groups.

Take Notes

Summarize the perspectives of the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists toward how specific the Constitution needed to be in delineating individual rights and liberties. (Click "Save" when you have finished. To see your saved or submitted work again, click "My Work" at the top of the page.)

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