When Is Bill of Rights Day?

            Today is Bill of Rights Day. The Bill of Rights is one of the three foundational documents for the United States with the other two documents being the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. All three documents are displayed and protected at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. David Plazas wrote the following about Bill of Rights Day. 

Eight days after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt signed a Joint Congressional Resolution named Dec. 15 Bill of Rights Day, to remind U.S. citizens as to the reason America as a democratic country would engage in a world struggle to fight against totalitarianism.

For more than two centuries, the Bill of Rights has shaped and been shaped by what it means to be American. The 484 words of the “Bill of Rights” protect our most cherished American freedoms.

The Constitution was officially ratified June 21, 1788, without a Bill of Rights. During the ratification process that absence emerged as a central part of the ratification debates. Several states ratified the Constitution on the condition that a Bill of Rights would be added.

The states, seeking a Bill of Rights, by amending the Constitution, “expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.”

By Dec. 15, 1791, Articles 3 to 12, were ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures, and these constituted the first ten amendments of the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights.

            The Bill of Rights protects many of the freedoms that Americans hold dear. The First and Second Amendments protects freedoms that are currently under assault from the communists currently controlling the government. The First Amendment protects freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to peaceably assemble, and the right to petition the government for redress of wrongs. The Second Amendment protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Without those two amendments, all Americans freedoms could be lost.