Existing comment:
No Need for Rights
The omission of a bill of rights from the Constitution was deliberate, not an oversight. George Mason proposed adding a bill of rights just five days before the Constitutional Convention ended. But after a short debate, the state delegations voted down the motion, 0–10. That became a problem during the ratification process when several states insisted on protection of rights.
Voting Record of the Constitutional Convention, showing the vote on the motion to appoint a committee to prepare a bill of rights, 1787, Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention
"A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against any government on earth, general or particular, and what no government should refuse, or rest on inference."
-- Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, December 20, 1787 |