SCHOOL OF FREEDOM 103E THE BILL OF RIGHTS

(Not a student yet? Enroll for free at www.gwschool.net.)

The Origin of the Bill of Rights



The origin of the Bill of Rights began long before the Constitutional Convention of the summer of 1887 and the ratification of that newly formed document. Its origin goes as far back as early Biblical times.



When driven from the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were commanded to earn their living by the sweat of their brow all the days of their lives thereby implying the accumulation of wealth and property. The right to defend one's property from an aggressor likewise has its origin from early Old Testament writings. By the time the Israelites took possession of the Promised Land and divided it among the twelve tribes, the understanding that our rights came from their Creator and not from the government was well established and understood. Even after the Assyrians took the ten tribes into captivity and after the tribe of Judah was conquered by Babylonia this understanding of our source of rights continued to be held among them.



Jefferson and others of the Founding Fathers discovered through their study of the English and Jewish history that the governing policies of both the Jewish culture and the Anglo Saxons who ultimately settled in the British Isles around 450 AD were strikingly similar. In fact Jefferson himself studied and learned the Anglo Saxon language so he could study from their own writings their belief and understanding of the Common Law which they brought with them to the British Isles and which had such an impact on the daily lives of the British people. The Founding Fathers were so impressed with the similarity of the principles of government of the two cultures that they wanted to recognize the influence of both cultures on the official seal of the United States of America. Both embodied many of the concepts of man's God given rights over such rights being granted by the state.



"It was the original intent of the Founders to have both the ancient Israelites and the Anglo-Saxons represented on the seal of the United States. The members of the committee were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin.



They recommended that one side of the seal show the profiles of two Anglo-Saxons representing Hengist and Horsa. These brothers were the first Anglo-Saxons to bring their people to England around A.D. 450 and introduce the institutes of People's Law into the British Isles. On the other side of the seal this committee recommended that there be a portrayal of ancient Israel going through the wilderness led by God's pillar of fire. In this way the Founders hoped to memorialize the two ancient peoples who had practiced People's Law and from whom the Founders had acquired many of their basic ideas for their new common-wealth of freedom." (See Gilbert Chinard, Thomas Jefferson: The Apostle of Americanism. P. 86.)



So important to the early colonists was the concept of God being the source of our rights that most if not all of the colonies had a Bill of Rights written into their own constitutions. It was this fact that was given as a major argument against the need to include a bill of such rights in the new constitution. The argument was that since bills of rights were already included in the various constitutions of the colonies that also including them in the new federal constitution was redundant.



However, George Mason and Governor Randolph of Virgina refused to sign the Constitution because in did not include a bill of rights. Nor was George Mason convinced by the argument that to delineate any rights in the Constitution would result in inadvertently implying that any rights not included in the document would not be guaranteed to Americans in future generations. "In spite of this, however, the people insisted on a Bill of Rights. They feared from bitter experience in the past, that the courts or government executives might somehow twist the meanings of certain words in the Constitution so as to deprive them of the rights, precisely as King George and his officers had done. This is why George Mason, a leading patriot from Virginia, declared that he would rather have his right hand chopped off than sign a Constitution without a Bill of Rights." (The Making of America page 674)



The lack of a Bill of Rights in the Constitution became a major rallying cry for the anti-federalists who opposed ratification of the new Constitution. It became increasing clear that the various colonies would not ratify the Constitution without a guarantee that a Bill of Rights would be included. Therefore, those who were promoting its adoption promised to include a Bill of Rights as a priority item when the first new congress met. During the process of ratification nearly 100 Bill of Right amendments were proposed by the various colonial legislatures. The new congress then summarized them into 12 proposed amendments that were subsequently submitted to the states for ratification. Ten of those were ratified by the required number of states and became the first ten amendments to the Constitution.



History has justified George Mason's fear that without having included the Bill of Rights in the Constitution to guard against decisions of the Supreme Court and the Federal Government, many of our God given rights would have since been denied the American people. In hindsight Americans owe a deep debt of gratitude to George Mason and others for their insistence that the Bill of Rights be included in our Constitution.

(Not a student yet? Enroll for free at www.gwschool.net.)
The George Washington School of Freedom
2975 W. Executive Pkwy, Suite 183
Lehi, UT 84043
www.gwschool.net

(Not a student yet? Enroll for free at www.gwschool.net.)




The George Washington School of Freedom Inc, 2975 W. Executive Pkwy. Suite 183, Lehi, UT 84043, USA

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit:
http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?jCyc7CwsHLSsTCwcrAycDLRmtOzsDEyMbEw=