Creating the Bill of Rights: The Documentary Record from the First Federal Congress / Edition 1

by Helen E. Veit, Kenneth R. Bowling, Charlene Bangs Bickford

Overview

Aside from the declaration of Independence, with its ringing cries for liberty, no public document has become as sacred to the American people as the Bill of Rights-the first ten amendments to the federal Constitution. Protecting individual freedoms and safeguarding state authority, they officially went into effect on December 15, 1791. Two centuries later the Bill of Rights and its meaning remain lively topics-in the courts, in newspapers, and in classrooms.

Creating the Bill of Rights documents the legislative history of the amendments and the sharp debates they produced in Congress. The volume shows how James Madison earned the title "Father of the Bill of Rights" while working with other members of the first Federal Congress to secure the gains of the Revolution and put republican theory into practice. It also includes all of the often-colorful letters that the Bill of Rights generated among members of Congress and their constituents.

Taken together, these documents offer important lessons in the history of American liberty and vividly illustrate the divisions that beset the country in its formative years. Published as part of the bicentennial commemoration of the amendments' adoption, Creating the Bill of Rights collects original papers relating to the discussions and decisions that helped shape American civic life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801841002
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	02/01/1991
Series:	Texas at Arlington Pubn in Ling; 97
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Helen E. Veit is an associate editor of the Documentary History of the First Federal Congress, 1789–1791.

Kenneth R. Bowling is the coeditor of the Documentary History of the First Federal Congress, 1789–1791

Charlene Bangs Bickford is the director and coeditor of the Documentary History of the First Federal Congress, 1789–1791.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Introduction
Editorial Method
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Part I: Legislative History
Chapter 1. Amendments to the Constitution
Part II: Debates in the House of Representatives
Chapter 2. May 1789
Chapter 3. June 1789
Chapter 4. July 1789
Chapter 5. August 1789
Part III: Letters and Other Documents
Chapter 6. March 1789
Chapter 7. April 1789
Chapter 8. May 1789
Chapter 9. June 1789
Chapter 10. July 1789
Chapter 11. August 1789
Chapter 12. September–October 1789
Biographical Gazetteer
Index

Editorial Reviews

Likely the most accessible and useful source of primary materials to come out of the nation's recognition of the bicentennial of the Bill of Rights, Creating the Bill of Rights is a welcome addition to American constitutional scholarship.
—American Studies International

From the Publisher

Likely the most accessible and useful source of primary materials to come out of the nation's recognition of the bicentennial of the Bill of Rights, Creating the Bill of Rights is a welcome addition to American constitutional scholarship.

American Studies International