Why were the Bill of Rights written and included in the U.S. Constitution?
LOTS OF sources about the background — some on IMMEDIATE background, others going far back into the history of the specific concerns (rights) embodied in each amendment – 1) The notion of a “Bill of Rights” goes back in the history of the English law and (mostly unwritten) ‘Constitution’. Perhaps the most significant background document for the list found in the U.S. Constitution (though many of these specific “rights” have a much longer history) is the “English Bill of Rights” of 1689, a legal document of Parliament which justified the “Glorious Revolution” in which James II was deposed and William & Mary were installed. It includes in a list of ‘particulars’ against James –the rights he was accused of violating– as well as a listing of the RIGHTS of British citizens the new monarchs were expected to honor. See the text here: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/englan… Note that some of their language (used in
