The first Congress of the United States approved 12
amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and sent them
to the states for ratification.

The amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were
designed to protect the basic rights of U.S. citizens,
guaranteeing the freedom of speech, press, assembly,
and exercise of religion; the right to fair legal procedure
and to bear arms; and that powers not delegated to the
federal government were reserved for the states and
the people.

Influenced by the English Bill of Rights of 1689, the Bill
of Rights was also drawn from Virginia’s Declaration of
Rights, drafted by George Mason in 1776.

First page of an original copy of the twelve proposed
articles of amendment, as passed by Congress.

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1776, the Continental
Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, which
proclaimed the independence of the United States of America
from Great Britain and its king.

The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting
women the right to vote, was passed by Congress and
sent to the states for ratification.

George Washington exercised the first presidential veto of a 
Congressional bill on April 5, 1792. The bill introduced a new
plan for dividing seats in the House of Representatives that
would have increased the amount of seats for northern states.

After consulting with his politically divided and contentious
cabinet, Washington, who came from the southern state of
Virginia, ultimately decided that the plan was unconstitutional
because, in providing for additional representatives for some
states, it would have introduced a number of representatives
higher than that prescribed by the Constitution.

(FOX NEWS) – Former U.S. Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, died on Sunday
at the age of 49, according to her family. She lost her battle with
cancer.

Love, who was the daughter of Haitian immigrants and the first
black Republican woman elected to Congress in 2014, "passed
away peacefully" surrounded by family.

Love had been undergoing treatment for brain cancer, but her
daughter said earlier this month the former congresswoman’s
cancer was no longer responding to it.

Ludmya "Mia" Love (December 6, 1975 – March 23, 2025)