The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution were ratified on December 15, 1791, completing the Bill of Rights before America250.
Congress proposed twelve amendments on September 25, 1789, largely through the efforts of Representative James Madison. The states ratified Articles Three through Twelve, which became Amendments One through Ten, on December 15, 1791.
The Bill of Rights protects freedoms including speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition. It also addresses criminal procedure, arms, searches, federalism, and other limits on government power.
A common mix-up is that Congress proposed twelve articles but only ten became the original Bill of Rights. One proposed article remains unratified, while another eventually became the Twenty-seventh Amendment in 1992. Thus the first ten amendments were not ratified on the Constitution’s signing or effective dates.