Our Bill of Rights (1940)

[Music] the years following the Declaration of Independence nurtured a new breed of community in a world of confusion repudiating precedent and usage Domin ating old world states which had evolved slowly painfully and planless from preceding things these Americans for history's first time planned and made a nation and then in New York City on April 30th 1789 they named a leader to complete the structure on the foundation of that new nation's fundamental law I do solemnly swear that I I will Faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and will to the best of my ability preserve protect and defend the Constitution of the United States gentlemen before we get to business we have the pleasure perhaps mixed with sadness of saying hail and farewell to one who deserves all the affection and respect of his country well that description can fit only one man Dr Benjamin Franklin Mr President we should have preferred going to you Dr Franklin to pay our respects not so I deemed it more fitting the shoe Bey on the other foot General Knox I've seen the day when your buff and blue was blood blotched that John Adams might become the first vice president of these United States and you James Madison our children's children will remember you and you Alex Hamilton and you John J and you Mr Rand tomorrow I leave for Philadelphia where in my daughter's house I shall spend such time as allotted me beyond my present 83 years those have been eventful years Dr Franklin I have watched that Constitution growing like a tree from first the Sprout planted by Samuel Adams and and his correspondence committees and then the United action of the association of 1774 in the history of this nation there has deserved an honorable page for that Association that was the trunk and those articles were the trunks's first branches and then the branches lifted up and spread into a sturdy tree of Liberty with shade enough for all and the first Sprout from the seed sown by our ancestors and nurtured by their blood Dr Franklin that such a Bill of Rights was not included in our constitution through deliberate design and they will most likely next stir up suspicion and accusation will follow close upon suspicion the proofs of course to be connected in some future time some individuals to see instances of guilt where there is at most most only honest error you Dr Franklin perfectly describe those who claim that during ratifications debate the Constitution sponsors proceeded on the theory that the means justify the ends the true measure of any action is the sentiment from which it Springs the quality of means determines the ethics of ends Honesty will justify our means and history will I trust applaud our ends gentlemen men were never before called upon to perform duties of such responsibility as those confronting you and you sir begin a task which some wise men predict cannot successfully be accomplished and every aspiring absolute ruler prays that you will fail I am of the opinion that there are other men more competent than I to complete this task I am too old for a bad example so I may give advice to you sir more than any man this nation owes its freedom and to you sir more than any man the people give both affection and confidence how can you fail if the government we organize under the people's Constitution survives the next 20 years may go on forever my friend it will survive and in times of future tribulation May no American forget that his Liberty thrives on the principle that all men are created equal gentlemen goodbye and good luck to you with orderly efficiency the first government was formed John Jay became the first Chief Justice and by General Accord Madison became leader of the house then a cabinet of secretaries rather than ministers was appointed Hamilton treasury Knox War Randolph attorney general Jefferson Foreign Affairs Thomas Jefferson's duties in France will keep this chair vacant I fear for months the seeds of Liberty scattering from here take root in Europe the people mutter and establish systems which is nothing but disaster from Paris Jefferson expresses the sophistry of a Dying order the Americans declare that all men are created equal with unamiable rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness it is evident that these are very questionable statements men are not born equal men are not born free these statements are so manifestly false that it is impossible to believe that the men who made them believed in them such truths are beyond the understanding of mind's lacking imagination and must perforce be denied by designing dictation we declare that unhampered intellect is the natural state decreed by man's Creator they oppose a most UN Natural State a hampering social net decreed by man stupidity a net which may in mesh but cannot stifle fundamental truths which confound archaic systems that degrade the individual in exaltation of the state from those truths Springs the American concept of Liberty motivating every article in the Constitution which I have sworn to defend and which your able pen so so well defended in the argument of ratification I think the world suspects that these widely translated treatises on civil government credited to puus would better read by Hamilton Madison and J to some our pens still seem to lack conviction their rambling oratory demands that the Constitution's Preamble be changed to read not we the people but we the states I am sure that to a majority of our people that question has already lost much of its significance and if a Bill of Rights be without delay adopted it will have no significance at all Mr Madison the Constitution is itself to every useful purpose a Bill of Rights there was another delegate you'll agree at the Constitutional Convention who had the least objection to what is asked Now by Advocates of the Bill of Rights where the people evidently retained in the Constitution everything they did not in Express terms give up a Bill of Rights was considered without meaning and it was only the difficulty in fixing a mode that would not interfere with the fixed mode of any state that induced the convention to leave for example the jury clause for a future adjustment and because of the judiciary's power to infracon ittu our people know their rights can be enforced Mr J there is a widespread conviction that there should be a statement of such rights to serve as a sure basis for Court decisions when determining infracon stems from the English revolution of 1688 and their Bill of Rights of the following year its roots are in our inheritance of British tradition and during the Virginia conventions of ratification I promised that by quick amendment in the Constitution our presumptive rights would become actual now sir it is whispered that I have done nothing to redeem my promise never did a people so thoroughly discuss contemplated legislation as was this document discussed this is our fundamental law Hasty judgment or pandering to politics must not change it Mr Randol with various members of the house I have studied upward of 70 proposed amendments to our constitution submitted by the various States and from the 70 we have called 20 which Merit prompt attention it is significant that none of these contemplates changing a single vital article that is good news I had a notion James that that perhaps disgruntled minorities like yours in Virginia had swayed majorities to substitute we the states for we the James posterity May Injustice too in discussing our constitution call you the father of it therein Congress is commanded to make laws necessary to carry into execution the great powers granted it and all other powers vested in government by the document you fostered that great task confronts us this is no time for consideration of amendments from the very states which ratified a document commanding us to do these things and the president's stupendous task of organization requires the full support of Senate and House leaving no time now for consideration of amendments which by the great majority are considered inconsequential Mr President a respectable minority will consider themselves fly dealt with if promises made in other states similar to those I made in Virginia are ignored until next session Mr randol's majority and your respectable minority constitute The Sovereign people of the United States they alone may enumerate their rights and reserve them to either state or people but combined with our faith in democratic government must be the realization that a popular majority may become as tyrannical as any absolute monarchy nothing will so destroy confidence and free government as a disregard after the event of campaign pledges I believe that all promises made during the campaign for ratification should be kept with your support sir I am certain that amendments safeguarding our fundamental rights will be recommended by this Congress for ratification by the States you may count on me Mr Madison and on me in the Senate and on us too thank you Mr President thank you gentlemen our honest response to the minority demand will encourage among the people who founded this government a real Bond of mutual Goodwill as binding as the more formal ties of law everyone will come to acknowledge James Madison's greatness of the Affairs of the United States He perhaps has the most correct knowledge of any man in the union then one day in August the joint committees of the Congress listened to James Madison gentlemen President Washington views the nation he has all but fed as something apart from and Superior to himself and any man in it and so it is this nation demands and deserves a high measure of devotion but Serv what sort of devotion is that which would besmer her honor in her name promises have been made which must be kept before this session of the Congress adjourns there are now but 12 amendments to our Constitution which require your approval or recommendation to the states expressed originally in many more they represent the honoring of pledges made not to disgruntled factions advocating revision of our fundamental law but to patriotic Americans who made that law effective and desire now it's strengthening you have by helping form this unique government done a duty Which history will applaud you are the authors of the laws of Mr President I have the honor to present for your appraisal 12 amendments to our constitution recommended by this Congress the first 10 clarify the issue of our fundamental rights for which James you deserve full credit sir this Congress has performed a crucial Duty nobly and well and have more than succeeded for failure was too freely predicted Mr President I have been asked to read to you a resolution of the Congress unanimously adopted in joint session in acknowledgement of the signal favors of the almighty in permitting our people to establish in peace a new government be it resolved that the president of the United States be requested to recommend a day of public Thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by all the people of the nation it is altogether fitting this be done on September 29th 1789 the first Congress adjourned and with ratification by the states the first first 10 amendments to the Constitution became part of the supreme law of the land the first affirms freedom of religion speech and press and the right of peaceful assembly and petition the second the right of states to maintain militia and the people to keep and bear arms for their security the third prohibits arbitrary quartering of troops upon citizens either during peace or War the fourth guarantees the people's right to be secure in their persons preventing arbitrary searches and seizures the fifth protects life liberty and property from arbitrary acts and formulates the legal procedure against those accused of serious crime designating indictment only by Grand Jury the six affirms the rights of those accused of crime a establishing trial by impartial jury of the vicinity the Public Presentation of evidence and the guarantee of councel the seventh guarantees the right of trial by jury in suits at common law the eighth prohibits excessive bail and cruel punishment the ninth affirms that presumptive rights not enumerated in the Constitution are retained still by the people and the 10th declares powers are reserved to the states respectively or to the people already these 10 amending articles are by popular Accord declared the nation's Bill of Rights that Bill of Rights refutes the liel of unfriendly critics who Jered that our constitution required quick revision there has been no revision these amendments supplement the Constitution they do not change it of course and as the people of all the states did ordain and establish the Constitution legally and politically it may be said that the United States is rather than the United States are a nation well a free government has been made for you if you can keep it so [Music]