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Bill of Rights

    On September 25, 1789, the First Federal Congress of the United States proposed to the state legislatures twelve amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The first two, concerning the number of constituents for each Representative and the compensation of Congressmen, were not ratified.* Articles three through twelve—known as the Bill of Rights—were ratified by the states on December 15, 1791, and became the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The Bill of Rights contains guarantees of essential rights and liberties omitted in the crafting of the original Constitution.

    (*Note: The original second amendment proposed by the First Federal Congress dealt with the compensation of members of Congress. Although rejected at the time, it was eventually ratified on May 7, 1992, as the 27th Amendment.*)

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    The images to the left are different prints found on the Library of Congress website on the "Introduction to the Bill of Rights". The top image is a print by Thomas Green. The next image was done somewhere around 1920 to 1930. The bottom image was printed around 1950. The Library of Congress website has more links which may be of interest. Click on the link within in this paragraph to visit the page from which this information and images were copied from.

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