Lesson 12: The Purpose and Intent of the Founders

     When the Constitution was being considered to be ratified by the states, two factions within the government argued about the inclusion of a Bill of Rights.
     These two factions were the Federalists, and the Anti-Federalists.  The Federalists argued that the Constitution should be ratified as-is because they believed it had sufficient power to guide the country.  The Anti-Federalists however were worried about the civil liberties and wanted to add a Bill of Rights to the Constitution.
     James Madison, a Federalist, saw no need for a Bill because he believed that the Constitution had enough limitations in it already.  But, after having a conversation with Benjamin Franklin through writing letters, Madison changed his mind and wrote the Bill of Rights and had it added to the Constitution.  The Bill originally did not apply to the individual states but rather to the national government only.  But after several court cases where the protections of the Bill were required, the Courts allowed the application of most of the protections contained in the Bill of Rights to individual states as well.