Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
Chapter 4, Lesson 3: The Bill of Rights (pp. 124-127)
I. Why Massachusetts Resisted
B. To gain the support of Antifederalists in Massachusetts and in other states, Federalist leaders offered a set of amendments to the Constitution that guaranteed individual rights.
II. Balancing the Constitution
B. The first Congress under the new Constitution wrote twelve amendments which laid out limits to the central government's power.
C. Ten of the twelve proposed amendments were ratified in 1791. These amendments are known as the Bill of Rights.
Lesson at a Glance Outline
A. The debates at the Massachusetts state ratifying convention were about the lack of a bill of rights in the Constitution.
A. The amendments proposed by the state ratifying conventions aimed to balance the rights of the states and individuals with the powers of the central government.
Copyright © 1997 Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.