The Bill of Rights

1. Who were the major contribute, and how did they contribute?

2. When did the document go into effect?

3. What was the document's primary purpose?

4. Evaluate the document's lasting influence.

1 - On June 8, 1789, Representative James Madison introduced a series of thirty-nine amendments to the constitution of the House of Representatives. Among its recommendations Madison proposed the opening of the Constitution and the insertion of specific rights to limit the power of Congress in Article One, Section 9. Seven of these limitations would become part of the ten articles ratified the Bill of Rights of the amendments. Ultimately, on September 25, 1789, Congress approved twelve articles of amendment to the Constitution and presented them to the states for ratification. Contrary to the original proposal of Madison that the articles that can be incorporated into the main body of the Constitution, were proposed as additions "complementary" to it. Articles from three to twelve were ratified by the states.

2 - On December 15, 1791, articles from three to twelve, after being ratified by the required number of states, became the one to ten amendments of the Constitution.

3 - It was an answer to calm the fears of antifederalist groups, some of them influential opponents of the Constitution, and prominent members of the Philadelphia Convention, who argued that it failed to defend the basic principles of human freedom. These amendments guarantee a series of personal freedoms, limit the power of the government in judicial processes and others; and some faculties are reserved for the states and the people. Originally the modifications applied only to the federal government, however, most were subsequently applied to the government of each state through the Fourteenth Amendment through a process known as incorporation.

4-The Bill of Rights had little judicial impact for the first 150 years of its existence, but it was the basis for many of the decisions of the Supreme Court from the 20th century onwards. The Bill of Rights plays a central role in American law and in his government, and continues to be a fundamental symbol of the nation's freedom and culture.