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.

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9780801841002

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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'

Author Information

Helen E. Veit is associate editor of the Documentary History of the First Federal Congress, 1789-1791; Kenneth R. Bowling serves as co-editor of the DHFFC and is the author of The Creation of Washington, D.C.; Charlene Bangs Bickford, director and co-editor of DHFFC, is the coauthor with Kenneth Bowling of Birth of a Nation: The First Federal Congress, 1789-1791.

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