“The first ten Amendments to the Constitution of the United States became known as the Bill of Rights because they contained freedoms that Americans held to be their inalienable rights. So important were these rights that several states insisted on a promise of amendments guaranteeing individual rights before they would ratify the Constitution.” (www.freedomforum.org) In 12th century England, King John ruled with an iron fist regularly leaving heavy taxes and imposing his will as he saw fit. The English Barons grew tired of it and forced King John to sign what would be called the Magna Carta in 1215. It guaranteed such rights as, trial by jury and due process of law, requiring the government to be fair in its actions. The Magna Carta established the principle that the

On June 21st 1788 the constitution was put into effect, with the understanding that an amendment would be framed to include individual Rights. Ironic as it was another promise would have to be made. Many people were opposed to a Constitution with no detailed word on individual rights. Nearly 100 years earlier 97 to be exact, when William and Mary were simply asked to agree on individual rights before assuming the throne, it was now put in the hands of New Hampshire the ninth state needed to ratify the U.S. Constitution, a constitution that took four months to frame, a constitution that would be called “The Miracle at Philadelphia”. New Hampshire had to have a little more trust than that of William and Mary, whom were obviously eager to assume the throne of England. New Hampshire was being asked to sign a document on a promise that individual rights would be addressed and approved after the fact. The state of New Hampshire must have known that James Madison representative of Virginia would be the primary person to draft such a Bill.

Rights of the people were now becoming an important part of government, so much so that in 1689 before William and Mary could assume the throne of Britain a condition or agreement was put before them, which said that they would have to agree on an act of Parliament known as the Bill of Rights. Among other things it guaranteed the right of British subjects to petition the king and to bear arms. The one downfall to this Bill would have to be that it could be changed at any time. Several English cit

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