Letter from thomas jefferson to james madison, december 20,
1787 (excerpt)
i will now add what i do not like. first the omission of a bill of
rights providing clearly & without the aid of sophisms for
freedom of religion, freedom of the press, protection against
standing armies, restriction against monopolies, the eternal &
unremitting force of the habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury in
all matters of fact triable by the laws of the land & not by the law
of nations to say as mr. wilson does that a bill of rights
was not necessary because all is reserved in the case of the
general government which is not given while in the
particular ones all is given which is not reserved might do
for the audience to whom it was addressed, but is surely a
gratis dictum, opposed by strong inferences from the body
of the instrument, as well as from the omission of the clause
of our present confederation whh had declared that in
express terms. it was a hard conclusion to say because there
has been no uniformity among the states as to the cases triable
by jury, because some have been so incautious as to abandon
this mode of trial, therefore the more prudent states shall be
reduced to the same level of calamity. it would have been much
more just & wise to have concluded the other way that as most
of the states had judiciously preserved this palladium, those
who had wandered should be brought back to it, and to have
established general right instead of general wrong let me add
that a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every
government on earth, general or particular, & what no just
government should refuse, or rest on inferences
what is jefferson saying he does not like about
the constitution in this quote?
o the tricky phrases of the constitution
o the exclusion of a strong standing army
the omission of a bill of rights
the inclusion of protections for monopolies