You should read the constitution, when Connecticut, Georgia and Massachusetts "ratified" the bill of rights it was purely symbolic. The period of time allowed for ratification had long since passed and the required number of states for ratification had been met, so those amendments to the Constitution were already accepted. Connecticut and Massachusetts, (though I'm not sure about Georgia), had ample reason for not ratifying those amendments. They were at the time Theocracies, run by their respective Congregational Churches. While the first amendment refers specifically to Congress not establishing a religion the Church Fathers, might have felt a bit uneasy about putting that language into into the Federal Constitution. There may have been good reason for that as the 14th amendment extended the coverage of many of the federal restrictions on power over the citizens to the states, effectively mandating an end to those Theocracies.
. John Sessoms wrote: >> From: "Bob Blakely" >> > > >> For this reason, the Constitution written by the "fathers" initially >> lacked the "Bill of Rights" we have now because the the "fathers" did >> not believe it necessary. After all, the Constitution did not give >> the federal government any power to regulate speech, press, religion, >> etc., so they couldn't do it. The states, fearing the new federal >> government would seek to extend it's power by removing liberty from >> men as all previous governments had, demanded that certain rights be >> specifically named as off limits to the new governments. These became >> the first ten amendments to the Constitution known as "The Bill of >> Rights". They are amendments (or changes) to the originally written >> Constitution and so form a part of it. No state ratified the >> Constitution until after the the document had been amended. All >> amendments are a part of the Constitution. >> > > Back to grade school Bob ... > > It should be obvious the Bill of Rights can not pre-date the > Constitution, since the mechanism for amending the Constitution did not > exist UNTIL the Constitution was ratified. The Bill of Rights are > amendments to the Constitution; without the Constitution there can be no > amendments. > > Unlike the chicken and the egg, we know which came first. > > The United States had a government under the Articles of Confederation > for more than 10 years before the Constitution. > > The Constitutional Convention of 1786 was an extra-governmental meeting > of representatives from the various states, charged to find ways to > improve the Articles of Confederation. Instead they wrote a NEW > Constitution. > > The Constitutional Convention adjourned Sep 17, 1787. > > Congress - the Congress already in existence under the Articles of > Confederation - agreed to send the new Constitution to the states for > debate and ratification on Sep 28, 1787. > > The Constitution was adopted with New Hampshire's ratification on Jun > 21, 1788. The Congress under the Articles continued to sit until late in > 1788 before the new government under the Constitution could convene itself. > > A digression - George Washington was not the first president of the > United States, he was the eleventh (or seventeenth if you count the > Continental Congresses). His predecessors are usually forgotten because > he was the first executive president elected under the NEW Constitution. > John Hancock was "president" twice, once under the Second Continental > Congress and once under the Articles of Confederation. > > The first ten amendments, commonly known as the Bill of Rights, were > proposed on Sep 25, 1789, by the NEW Congress - more than a year after > the ratification of the Constitution, and were all ratified at once with > Virginia's ratification Dec 15, 1791. > > Only two of the original 13 states, North Carolina and Rhode Island, > ratified the Constitution AFTER the Bill of Rights was proposed and both > ratified the Constitution before ratifying the Bill of Rights; and both > joined the Union before the Bill of Rights was adopted. > > Three of the original 13 states, Connecticut, Georgia and Massachusetts, > did not ratify the Bill of Rights until 1939. > > Originally 12 amendments were proposed for the Bill of Rights; 10 were > adopted. The first proposed amendment was not adopted. > > The second proposed amendment was finally adopted as the 27th Amendment > to the Constitution in 1992. > > The third proposed amendment was adopted as the First Amendment of the > Bill of Rights. > > Dates of Ratification - Constitution & Bill of Rights > > Delaware Constitution: Dec 7, 1787 Bill of Rights: Jan 28, 1790 > Pennsylvania Constitution: Dec 12, 1787 Bill of Rights: Mar 10, 1790 > New Jersey Constitution: Dec 18, 1787 Bill of Rights: Nov 20, 1789 > Connecticut Constitution: Jan 9, 1788 Bill of Rights: Apr 19, 1939 > Georgia Constitution: Feb 2, 1788 Bill of Rights: Mar 18, 1939 > Massachusetts Constitution: Feb 6, 1788 Bill of Rights: Mar 2, 1939 > Maryland Constitution: Apr 28, 1788 Bill of Rights: Dec 19, 1789 > South Carolina Constitution: May 23, 1788 Bill of Rights: Jan 19, 1790 > New Hampshire Constitution: Jun 21, 1788 Bill of Rights: Jan 25, 1790 > Virginia Constitution: Jun 25, 1788 Bill of Rights: Dec 15, 1791 > New York Constitution: Jul 26, 1788 Bill of Rights: Feb 24, 1790 > North Carolina Constitution: Nov 21, 1789 Bill of Rights: Dec 22, 1789 > Rhode Island Constitution: May 29, 1790 Bill or Rights: Jun 7, 1790 > > The longest delay between ratification of the Constitution and > ratification of the Bill of Rights is Connecticut's - Jan 9, 1788 to > Apr 19, 1939; the shortest is Rhode Island's - May 29, 1790 to Jun 7, 1790. > > > > -- Remember, it’s pillage then burn. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
