Episode 260: Creating the First Ten Amendments

by Holly WhiteOctober 15, 2019

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How and why did Congress draft the First Ten Amendments to the Constitution?

In the United States, we use the Constitution and Bill of Rights to understand and define ourselves culturally. Americans are a people with laws and rights that are protected by the Constitution because they are defined in the Constitution.

And the place where the Constitution defines and outlines our rights is within its First Ten Amendments, the Bill of Rights.

In this second episode of our 4th Doing History series, we’re investigating how and why Congress drafted the First Ten Amendments to the Constitution. Our guide for this investigation is Kenneth Bowling, a member of the First Federal Congress Project and a co-editor of Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, March 4, 1789-March 3, 1791.

About the Series

Law is all around us. The “Doing History: Understanding the Fourth Amendment” series uses the Bill of Rights and the Fourth Amendment as case studies to examine where our rights come from and how they developed out of early American knowledge and experiences. It also uses the history of the Bill of Rights and the Fourth Amendment to explore the history of law as a field of study and how this field of study differs from other historical subjects and how historians and lawyers use and view the history of the law differently.

The Doing History series explores early American history and how historians work. It is part of Ben Franklin’s World, which is a production of the Omohundro Institute.

Be sure you check out Doing History season 1, Doing History: How Historians Work; Doing History season 2, Doing History: To the Revolution!; And, Doing History season 3, Doing History: Biography.

About the Show

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.

Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.

Episode Summary

Kenneth Bowling , a member of the First Federal Congress Project and a co-editor of Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, March 4, 1789-March 3, 1791, leads our investigation of how and why Congress created the First Ten Amendments to the United States Constitution.

During our investigation, Ken reveals information about the First Federal Congress Project and its work to compile 22 published volumes of documents related to the First Federal Congress; The origins of the Bill of Rights and how Congress came to amend the Constitution; And the role documentary editions play in our historical knowledge and in our constitutional history.

What You’ll Discover

First Federal Congress Project
Locating the different records of the First Federal Congress
Origins of the Bill of Rights
Constitutional amendments proposed by the states during ratification
George Mason and the Bill of Rights
Rights the states proposed adding to the Constitution
The First Federal Congress and the Fourth Amendment
Changes made to the Bill of Rights by the Senate
Reaction of House of Representatives to Senate changes of the Bill of Rights
The role of history in Congress
The role of history in the Constitution
The role documentary editions play in historical knowledge & Constitutional history