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Thomas Jefferson to James Madison,
March 15, 1789
(Courtesy of the Library of Congress)
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Jefferson
and Madison exchanged several letters on the subject of adding a Bill of Rights
to the new Constitution. Both men were civil libertarians and had worked
together for religious liberty in Virginia. Madison questioned the necessity
of a federal bill of rights. Although his conversion to leading spokesman in
the First Congress for amendments protecting individual rights was due
primarily to political considerations, his friend's arguments influenced him
as well. Jefferson had a longer range view of the value of a Bill of Rights
than most of his contemporaries, because he understood "the
legal check which it puts into the hands of the judiciary."
Full text transcript of Jefferson's letter.
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