The Bill of Rights

“Celebrate Freedom Week”

A) Each social studies class shall include…appropriate instruction concerning the intent, meaning, and importance of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, in their historical context.”

TEKS Category 3: Government and Citizenship(19) Citizenship. The student understands the rights and responsibilities ofcitizens of the United States. The student is expected to(A)Define and give examples of unalienable rights; Readiness Standard(B) Summarize rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights; Readiness Standard

Article I section 8 giving Congress power “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper….”  Article VI “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the Supreme law of the Land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.”

Magna Carta

John Locke

Natural Rights Philosophers

John Dickinson

Natural rights “are created in us by the decrees of Providence, which establish the laws of our nature. They are born within us; exist with us; and cannot be taken from us by any human power without taking our lives.”

Virginia Declaration of Rights 1776

George Mason

Constitutional ConventionPhiladelphia 1787

James Madison on “parchment barriers”

“Experience proves the inefficacy of a bill of rights on those occasions when its control is most needed. Repeated violations of these parchment barriers have been committed by overbearing majorities in every instance where it has been opposed to a popular current.”Madison to Jefferson, Oct 17, 1788

Three Who Refused to Sign the Constitution

Elbridge Gerry, Edmund Randolph, George Mason

John Adams / Thomas Jefferson

Madison Presents the Proposed Bill of Rights to Congress

Barron v. Baltimore 1833

14th Amendment:

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.