Bill of Rights Day

December is the month we celebrate a very important holiday. You guessed it, Bill of Rights Day is on December 15th! The Bill of Rights are the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution. They were ratified on December 15th, 1791. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed the first Bill of Rights day in 1941. These amendments guarantee our rights to speech, religion, bear arms, trial by jury, protection from unreasonable search and seizure, and more. 

James Madison (who would later become the 4th President of the United States)
was the primary author of the Bill of Rights in the House of Representatives in 1789.
Gilbert Stuart [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Tarleton's Library has a wealth of resources about the Bill of Rights. Such as these titles: 

Digital films by Cambridge Educational available through the Films on Demand database: 

The First Amendment
Amendment 2: Right to Bear Arms
Amendment 3: Quartering of Troops 
Amendment 4: Unreasonable Search and Seizure 
Amendments 5 - 8: Justice Amendments
Amendment 9: Reserved Rights of People
Amendment 10: Powers Reserved to States

Books and eBooks:
The Bill of Rights: Original Meaning and Current Understanding by Eugene W. Hickok 
The Bill of Rights and the Police by Melvyn Zarr

The Bill of Rights Primer: A Citizen's Guidebook to the American Bill of Rights by Akhil Reed Amar
The Birth of the Bill of Rights, 1776-1791 by Robert Allen Rutland 
Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, the Bill of Rights, and the Election that Saved a Nation by Chris DeRose 
The Future of the First Amendment by Kenneth Dautrich 
In Defense of Liberty: The Story of America's Bill of Rights by Russell Freedman
James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights by Richard E. Labunski 
Misreading the Bill of Rights: Top Ten Myths Concerning Your Rights and Liberties by Robert K. Goidel
Mobilizing the Press: Defending the First Amendment in the Supreme Court by Eric B. Easton
Origins of the Bill of Rights by Leonard W. Levy
Religious Freedom and the Constitution by Christopher L. Eisgruber
Sexual Rights in America: The Ninth Amendment and the Pursuit of Happiness by Paul R. Abramson
Unreasonable Searches and Seizures: Rights and Liberties under the Law by Otis H. Stephens, Jr. 
Whose Right to Bear Arms did the Second Amendment Protect? by Saul Cornell 

If you need assistance finding information about the Bill of Rights, or any other topic, then contact us at reference@tarleton.edu or 254-968-9249.