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That the Judicial Power of the United States shall extend to no Controversies respecting Land, unless it relate to Claims of Territory or Jurisdiction between States, or to Claims of Land between Individuals, or between States and Individuals under the Grants of different States.

That the Militia of any State shall not be compelled to serve without the limits of the State for a longer term than six weeks, without the Consent of the Legislature thereof.

That the words without the Consent of the Congress in the seventh Clause of the ninth Section of the first Article of the Constitution, be expunged.

That the Senators and Representatives and all Executive and Judicial Officers of the United States shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation not to infringe or violate the Constitutions or Rights of the respective States.

That the Legislatures of the respective States may make Provision by Law, that the Electors of the Election Districts to be by them appointed shall chuse a Citizen of the United States who shall have been an Inhabitant of such District for the Term of one year immediately preceeding the time of his Election, for one of the Representatives of such State.

DONE in Convention at Poughkeepsie in the County of Dutchess in the State of New York the twenty sixth day of July in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and Eighty eight.

By Order of the Convention.

GEO: CLINTON President

FRAMING THE BILL OF RIGHTS

James Madison: Speech Introducing Amendments in the House of Representatives (June 8, 1789)

PAGE 613

Roger Sherman: Draft Amendments (July 21-28, 1789)

PAGE 627

Amendments Proposed by the House of Representatives (August 24, 1789)

PAGE 629

Amendments Proposed by the Senate (September 14, 1789)

PAGE 632

Amendments Proposed to the States (September 28, 1789)

PAGE 635

The Bill of Rights, as Ratified by the States (December 15, 1791 )

PAGE 638

THE PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR assuring that amendments were adopted fell to James Madison. As his correspondence with Thomas Jefferson reveals, Madison never really came to believe that the protection of rights depended on the adoption of amendments. But during a tough election campaign against his friend James Monroe for election to the House of Representatives, he found it necessary to issue a public letter affirming his support for amendments protecting rights. Once elected, he felt obliged to honor this pledge. He had also come to believe that the adoption of a limited number of carefully tailored amendments would do much to reconcile moderate Anti-Federalists to the Constitution. Accordingly, in the early months of 1789, he reviewed all of the proposals that the various state conventions had put forward—they had been conveniently reprinted in a single pamphlet—and culled from this lengthy list a moderate number of proposals that could be safely added to the Constitution without affecting any of the critical decisions taken at Philadelphia.

Though Madison gave early notice of his intentions, not until June 8, 1789 was he able to lay his proposed amendments before the House of Representatives. Most of his colleagues were reluctant to pursue the subject. The Federalists who dominated both houses of Congress felt little obligation to honor the ostensible pledges made during the ratification campaign, while the Anti-Federalist minority realized they would never obtain the substantive changes they desired. Madison persisted, however, and eventually the House appointed a committee to consider his amendments, as well as another draft prepared by Roger Sherman of Connecticut (who had the distinction of serving at the Stamp Act Congress of 1765 as well as being a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution). While the committee largely ignored his proposals, the House ultimately agreed with Sherman on one key point. Where Madison had wanted to “interweave” his amendments at those points in the Constitution where each seemed most pertinent, Sherman argued