Analyzing Senate Revisions to the Bill of Rights

This activity can be used as an introduction to the Bill of Rights or in a Civics unit about individual rights and liberties. For grades 6-12. Approximate time needed is 30 minutes.

Before beginning activity, share the following details with students:

On June 8, 1789, Representative James Madison of Virginia proposed 17 amendments to the newly ratified U.S. Constitution in the House of Representatives. That summer the House debated the issues, and on August 24 passed 17 proposed constitutional amendments. These amendments were then sent to the Senate for debate and discussion.

Students can work individually or in pairs; or you can choose to present the activity to the entire class and analyze the document together, using the questions for class discussion.  Direct students to take a minute to examine the Senate Revisions to the Bill of Rights, then to respond to the questions.

Students should answer the questions below the document, which will guide them through the process of written document analysis. If necessary, check in with your students at each step in the process and model analysis if required:

• Meet the document.
• Observe its parts.
• Try to make sense of it.
• Use it as historical evidence.

After students have answered all of the analysis questions, they should click on “When You’re Done” and answer the following:

• What does this document tell you about the creation of the Bill of Rights?
• What did you find most interesting?
• What did you find most surprising?

Before completing the activity, share the following details with students:

After receiving 17 proposed constitutional amendments from the House of Representatives, the Senate altered and consolidated the House amendments into 12.  An additional printed draft reflects the Senate’s changes as passed on September 14, 1789. The line-outs on the first, third, and eighth articles indicate wording that had been amended in conference committee on September 24, 1789.

Twelve articles of amendment were then sent to the states — articles three through twelve were ratified and became the Bill of Rights in 1791.

For more details, visit Congress Creates the Bill of Rights from the Center for Legislative Archives.