Texas Review of Law & Politics, Volume 19, Number 1, Fall 2014 Page: 60
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Texas Review of Law & Politics
fortif[y]" the people's liberties and "safely and advantageously
promote []" public harmony.197
And so on the floor of the First Congress, in the fourteenth
week of its very first session, James Madison rose to move that
body towards a Bill of Rights.198 Madison said he considered
himself "bound in honor and in duty" to bring such a bill before
the First Congress so as to "render [the Constitution] as
acceptable to the whole people of the United States, as it has
been found acceptable to a majority of them."199 Like Franklin at
the Convention, Madison strove for unanimity not mere
majority, because many who struggled with us through the
Revolutionary War feared as inadequate the protection afforded
the liberties for which we all fought: "We ought not to disregard
their inclination, but, on principles of amity and moderation,
conform to their wishes, and expressly declare the great rights of
mankind secured under this constitution. The acquiescence
which our fellow-citizens show under the Government, calls
upon us for a like return of moderation."200
On first glance, the lesson seems obvious enough. This matter
of rights, in its origin, was not about what sets apart each from
the other. This was not about wedge issues or partisan goals. Our
Founders viewed this conversation about rights as a means by
which to draw the Nation more closely together. And so, this
impulse all persons of good faith feel respecting the recognition
of rights is one on which we should patiently seek agreement,
together as Americans.
I think we can all admire that sentiment, even if we do not
quite know how to pursue its accomplishment today in line with
yesterday's aspirations. It seems so contrary to modern dialogue
and politics. Indeed, the entirety of law school is a seemingly
endless array of litigated cases, to say nothing of the headlines on
any given day, and so we have in mind countless situations where
agreement on fundamental issues perhaps never can be reached.
And is that really so surprising? The history of these rights
197. Id.
198. Primary Documents in American History: The Bill of Rights, THE LIBR. OF CONGRESS,
www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/billofrights.html [perma.cc/YQ8V-
M52H?type=image] (last updated Sept. 14, 2014).
199. House of Representatives, Amendments to the Constitution (June 8, 1789)
(James Madison), reprinted in 5 THE FOUNDERS' CONSTITUTION, supra note 47, at 20, 20,
24.
200. Id. at 24.Vol. 19
60
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University of Texas at Austin. School of Law. Texas Review of Law & Politics, Volume 19, Number 1, Fall 2014, periodical, Autumn 2014; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth638673/m1/74/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.