Video: 'The Story of the Bill of Rights'

(Thursday, December 15, 1791) — The United States Bill of Rights, comprising the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, went into effect today following ratification by Virginia.

Proposed following the often bitter 1787–88 debate over the ratification of the Constitution and written to address the objections raised by Anti-Federalists, the Bill of Rights amendments added to the Constitution specific guarantees of personal freedoms and rights, clear limitations on the government’s power in judicial and other proceedings and explicit declarations that all powers not specifically granted to the federal government by the Constitution are reserved to the states or the people.

The concepts codified in these amendments are built upon those in earlier documents, especially the Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776), as well as the Northwest Ordinance (1787), the English Bill of Rights (1689) and Magna Carta (1215).