The New American
To many Americans, Thursday is just another day in the week of no consequence as they go about their daily lives. If we were to do man-on-the-street interviews asking passersby what significant event happened on this day in our nation’s history 231 years ago, this writer is certain that very few would know the correct answer: The ratification of the Bill of Rights became an official part of the U.S. Constitution following vigorous national debate on December 15, 1791.
The Bill of Rights was birthed at the Constitutional Convention in October of 1789 by Anti-Federalists who were opposed to the ratification of the 1787 U.S. Constitution because they feared that the new national government would be too powerful and thus threaten individual liberties, given the absence of a bill of rights.
One Anti-Federalist, Virginia’s George Mason, at the beginning of the Convention in 1787, wrote to his son in a letter, “The eyes of the United States are turned upon this assembly and their expectations raised to a very anxious degree. May God grant that we may be able to gratify them, by establishing a wise and just government.” But by the time the Convention was coming to a close, Mason refused to sign the Constitution, as he and other Anti-Federalists thought the new central government threatened their traditional belief in the importance of restraining government power. Mason then declared he would “rather chop off my right hand than put it to the Constitution as it now stands.”
Read Full Article Here…(thenewamerican.com)
Caravan to Midnight
