On what date were the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution ratified as the Bill of Rights?

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution were ratified as the Bill of Rights on December 15, 1791. They became part of the Constitution after the required number of states approved the amendments.

James Madison introduced a list of proposed amendments in the First Congress partly in response to Anti-Federalist concerns about the new federal government. Congress approved twelve proposed articles on September 25, 1789, rather than ten. The states ultimately ratified Articles Three through Twelve, which became Amendments One through Ten.

The amendments protect important liberties and legal safeguards, including religious exercise, freedom of speech and press, peaceful assembly, protections against unreasonable searches, due process, and jury rights. The Tenth Amendment addresses powers not delegated to the federal government.

Two proposed articles were not initially ratified. One concerning congressional apportionment remains unratified, while the former second article was eventually ratified in 1992 as the Twenty-seventh Amendment. Thus, the familiar Bill of Rights came from ten of the original twelve proposals.