Why didn't the framers add a bill of rights at the Constitutional Convention?
About this video
The video explains why the Constitutional Convention did not add a bill of rights. When George Mason proposed one in the last week, the tired delegates wanted to go home, and Roger Sherman persuaded them it was unnecessary because the Constitution dealt with trade, taxes and defense, while the states already protected their citizens' rights.
You'll be able to
- explain why the delegates were reluctant to debate a bill of rights at the end of the convention.
- describe Roger Sherman's argument against adding a bill of rights.
Key words
- bill of rights
- A written list of rights the government cannot take away.
- Constitutional Convention
- The 1787 meeting where delegates wrote the U.S. Constitution.
- civil rights
- Basic rights and freedoms that belong to citizens.
Transcript
Video Title: Why didn't the framers add a bill of rights at the Constitutional Convention? Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgNodIXQJec Transcript generated by YouTube Transcript Generator - Extract transcripts from any YouTube video instantly at https://transcriptgenerator.org ======================================== In the first effort to have a bill of rights, which was at the constitutional convention, nobody wanted it. George Mason proposed a bill of rights. In the very last week, everybody's bag was packed. They wanted to go home and groans, I can assure you, spread throughout the entire convention. Everything had been debated then argued in debate, and they didn't want to bring a topic that might require two more weeks of debate. Mason, bless
his heart, said, "Oh no, this won't take long at all. We can do it right now." Then everybody must have laughed because there was nothing at that convention that they could do quickly and easily. Finally, Roger Sherman stood up, and he said, "We don't really need to do this." There's no need for a bill of basically civil rights because the constitution doesn't deal with those issues. The constitution is about trade and commerce and taxes and protection of the country. The states are in charge of protecting the rights of their citizens, and most of the states already have bills of rights in their constitutions and so why would we need to do it? Roger Sherman was very much respected, and everybody breathed a sigh of relief,
and they didn't pass the bill of rights, and they all went home.
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