On June 8, 1789, Virginia Congressman James Madison rose from his seat in New York City’s Federal Hall and urged his colleagues to consider “some things to be incorporated into the Constitution” that he felt “bound by every motive of prudence” to introduce. The first Congress under the new Constitution had many problems to address: it needed to establish new departments for the executive branch, rules for each house, a post office, and a judicial system; and it needed to reaffirm the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Now Madison placed on its agenda a set of resolutions that became the Bill of Rights
BY RAY TYLER
ON DECEMBER 8, 2021