On December 15, 1791, the Commonwealth of Virginia ratified all 12 articles of the Bill of Rights, submitted to it for consideration on September 28, 1789. This includes our favorite, Article V.
"What? Article V?" (You might might say.) Yes. We at the Third Amendment Lawyers Association have it as our mission to support the Article the Fifth. It is little taught that the ordinal numbering of the articles of the Bill of Rights are different from the ordinal numbering of the Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The Bill of Rights are not just the first ten amendments. On September 28, 1789, Congress submitted twelve articles to the States. What became the 1st Amendment was Article 3, the 2nd Amendment was Article 4, and the 3rd Amendment was Article 5 (and so on). Article 1 has never reached ratification by 3/4 of the states and Article the Second (which prohibits Congress from giving itself a raise before standing for reelection) was not fully ratified until May 7, 1992. So, should December 15 be Bill of Rights day? After all, only 5/6 of them were ratified as of that date in 1791. Perhaps it should be September 28, since that is the anniversary of all 12 being proposed. Or maybe May 7, when the last was ratified? Or should we wait until Article I is fully ratified by another 27 states (which would increase the size of the House of Representatives to approximately 6,400 members)? We are sticking with December 15. First, the right to be free from quartering was ratified as of that date. And Articles 1 & 2 are less rights oriented than structural adjustments. They may be good policy (we take no position), but they do not deal with rights per se. So, with that we say to you: Happy Bill of Rights Day!
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AuthorJay Wolman is Counsel at Randazza Legal Group and the Founder of the Third Amendment Lawyers Association Archives
December 2016
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