Essay On The Bill Of Rights

The Bill of Rights was written by James Madison. Its purpose was to define the basic rights of the citizens. A total of ten amendments were added to the new Constitution for the protection of individual liberty. During its ratification, the Bill of Rights would be fiercely debated by the Antifederalists and Federalists. The debate was about whether enumerating some rights makes all other rights not enumerated illegitimate. The Antifederalists claimed that a man who was alone in the countryside was the freest form of man. However, in a civilized nation some rights had to be given up by the individual for the collective welfare of the people. The Antifederalists said that in order for the people’s basic rights to be secure, they should
Federalists also claimed that the Bill of Rights poised a threat for the simple reason that all rights not mentioned might be declared null and void. They said that there was no need for protection of things like religious freedom and freedom of speech because such powers were not given to the government in the first place. Furthermore, what was paper protection the Bill of Rights only protected people when the government was just which made the bill unnecessary. In the other case, the bill was equally useless, for a despotic government would trample their rights anyway. “A Bill of Rights would not only be unnecessary, but in my humble judgment, highly imprudent”, James Wilson. (Antifederalists, 1989) The Bill of Rights proved to be a wise measure for the American people. It was one of the only measures proposed by the Antifederalists that greatly helped the people. The enumerating of rights did not forfeit rights not enumerated; it highlighted and defined the most important aspects of basic rights which continue to guide us in a troubled