The first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States
             which establishes basic American civil liberties that the government cannot
             violate is known as the Bill of Rights (Encarta pp). Ratified by the
             states in 1791, three years after the Constitution was ratified, the Bill
             of Rights originally applied only to the federal government, however, the
             Supreme Court, in a series of 20th century cases, decided that most of its
             provisions apply to the states as well (Encarta pp). Throughout the last
             two centuries, the Bill of Rights has been used by many countries as a
             model for defining civil liberties in their own constitutions (Encarta pp).
             Although memories of civil rights violations during the colonial
             period were still vivid in 1789 as George Washington was inaugurated as
             America's first president, the draft constitution that was submitted to the
             states for ratification included relatively few basic rights (Early pp).
             The omission of individual liberties in the proposed constitution alarmed
             many prominent Americans, including author of the Virginia Bill of Rights,
             George Mason, who refused to sign the document, as did Elbridge Gerry of
             Massachusetts (Early pp). Thomas Jefferson, who was the United States
             Minister to France at the time, wrote James Madison that he was concerned
             about "the omission of a bill of rightsâ€providing clearlyâ€for freedom of
             religion, freedom of the press, protection against standing armies, and
             restriction against monopolies" (Early pp). Concerned about the lack of
             these provisions, George Washington urged Congress in his first inaugural
             address to propose amendments that offered "a reverence for the
             characteristic rights of freeman and a regard for public harmony" (Early
             pp). On September 25, 1789, Congress officially proposed twelve
             amendments, ten of which were ratified and in 1791 Articles 3 -12 became
             kn...