The framers of the Bill of Rights looked first to England for their inspiration. Although theirs addresses a fundamentally different issue – the rights of citizens, as represented by the Parliament, against the Crown – some of the rights outlined were echoed in the Bill of Rights of America. Further influences came from Virginia’s separate Declaration of Rights, which held that citizens have an inherent right to change or abolish their government, and from the Articles of Confederation. Collectively, the principles outlined in these documents were winnowed down to what became the first ten amendments to the Constitution.

On this day, November 20, in 1789, New Jersey ratified the Bill of Rights, the first state to do so. There were a total of 12 amendments, and the state approved only 11, rejecting the provision against members of Congress raising their own salary.

The other amendment that failed to make it into the constitution initially was representation according to population – which eventually was solved by establishing the House of Representatives. There was considerable debate whether these principles should be included in the Constitution initially, rather than as separate additions, but because a lot of debate revolved around the power of the federal government against the power of states, the delegates agreed it was better to let the constitution be ratified separately, without the controversial provisions, which could be added on later.