1. How much of the Magna Carta made it into the US Bill of Rights?
9 of the 26 provisions in the Bill of Rights are related or linked to the Magna Carta. That is around a third of the Bill of Rights traced back to the Magna Carta.
2. Why did Mason think it would be easy to add a Bill of Rights during the Convention?
He believed it would be easy because he thought it would be agreed upon by all. As he stated, “It would give great quiet to the people.” The Bill of Rights was also seen as easy to create judging by the the presence of state bill of rights variations.
3. What did Madison say about Mason and his "ill-humor"?
On October 24, 1787, Madison sent a letter to Thomas Jefferson stating that “Col. Mason left Philadelphia in an exceeding ill humor indeed.” He thought it was ill humor because of how the circumstances rose against him due to his impatience, and how he had a determined disposition to prevent the adoption.
4. What did the 'Structural Anti-Federalists' want?
“Structural Anti Federalists” wanted to change the power and structure of the upcoming government. They differed from a Limited Antifederalist as they didn’t believe in limiting its reach with a bill of rights. They also wanted a restoration of the Articles of Confederation instead of just a bill of rights
5. What was the "Massachusetts Compromise"?
It was an agreement where 10 Anti Federalists ratified the Constitution in exchange for a gentleman’s agreement that Massachusetts Congressmen would urge the adoption of 9 amendments to the Constitution
6. What were Madison's three original proposals on religion clauses in the Constitution?
They were as stated in Article 1 Section 9 “ The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed.” They basically stated that rights cannot be obstructed due to religion, no state religion can be established, and nobody can be discriminated against on the basis of religion.
7. What did the House Select Committee do?
They compromised by combining Madison’s 3 religion clause proposals. They made it to read, “No religion shall be established by law, nor shall the equal rights of conscience be infringed.” They removed the terms “national religion”, but the rights of conscience clause still remained.
8. What do we know about the debates in state legislatures respecting debate over ratification of the Bill of Rights?
There weren’t any detailed accounts or reports on debates in the state legislatures on the ratification of the Bill of Rights. However, we do know that two amendment proposals were rejected. There are leads to how to figure out debates in states judging by finding the results in Massachusetts, Connecticut, or Georgia. Most of the time they do not have any evidence of any vote in Georgia which would lead them to expect to find something in the other two states.