History of the United States I / Unit 8 USH1 1051 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Bill of Rights
Captions available
The idea
Madison introduced the amendments, Congress approved them in seventeen eighty-nine, and the states adopted them in seventeen ninety-one.
In practice
Rights that state constitutions already guaranteed, now written into the federal frame as well.
Where people slip
They softened the Anti-Federalists' opposition to the Constitution and gave the new federal government greater legitimacy.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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