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.

On July 28, 1868: Following its ratification by the necessary three-
quarters of U.S. states, the 14th Amendment, granting citizenship
to all persons born or naturalized in the United States—including formerly enslaved people—was officially adopted into the U.S. Constitution. Secretary of State William Seward (below) issued a
proclamation certifying the amendment.

 
CAMILLE BOHANNON

June 21, 1788: New Hampshire becomes the ninth and last
necessary state to ratify the Constitution of the United States,
thereby making the document the law of the land.

This date marked the end of government under the Articles
of Confederation and the beginning of the new government
established by the Constitution.

March 16, 1751, James Madison, drafter of the Constitution,
recorder of the Constitutional Convention, author of the
Federalist Papers and fourth president of the United States,
was born on a plantation in Virginia.       

Madison first distinguished himself as a student at the College
of New Jersey (now Princeton University), where he successfully completed a four-year course of study in two years and, in 1769,
helped found the American Whig Society, the second literary and
debate society at Princeton (and the world), to rival the previously established Cliosophic Society.

After retiring from official political positions, Madison served
Thomas Jefferson’s beloved University of Virginia first as a
member of the board of visitors and then as rector. In 1938,
the State Teachers College at Harrisonburg, Virginia, was
renamed in Madison’s honor as Madison College; in 1976,
it became James Madison University.

The constitutional convention in Virginia. 

The Signing of the Constitution of the United States, with
George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas
Jefferson at the Constitutional Convention of 1787.

The first session of the U.S. Congress was held in New York City
as the U.S. Constitution took effect. However, of the 22 senators
and 59 representatives called to represent the 11 states who had
ratified the document, only nine senators and 13 representatives
showed up to begin negotiations for its amendment.