Ridiculous. The reason the Bill of Rights was not included in the constitution proper is that the enumerated powers clause states that the federal government is assumed to have no authority other than that explicitly granted to it. The Federalists were concerned that as soon as you started listing rights that were specifically protected, people would get the idea that those were the ONLY rights protected, which was contrary to the principle on which the nation was founded.

I wish I could upvote you more than once. This is an important factor that during the foundation of our country that seems to be playing out in real time in our modern times, and it's a discussion that needs to be had.

The government needs to be reminded the people are what give it any legitimacy in the first place, and such blatant unconstitutionality needs to be prosecuted and denounced loudly and publicly.

> The original constitution didn't even include the bill of rights because it can't be easily reconciled with slavery.

The original Constitution expressly recognized and protected slavery, true, and did not include the bill of rights, but not because it couldn't be reconciled with slavery, but because the bill of rights was crafted to address concerns raised by critics of the original Constitution; the Bill of Rights (well, the 10 amendments popularly called that now -- the package proposed had 12, one of which still isn't ratified, and one of which took a little over 200 years to be ratified) was ratified within a few years of the original Constitution, and had no problem being reconciled with slavery, which was still around until being abolished by the 13th Amendment after the Civil War.

" The original constitution didn't even include the bill of rights..."

I've heard this before and it's complete bullshit. The constitution as originally ratified by all the colonies included the bill of rights. Sure, there were many drafts and prior versions that didn't include it, but it has been there since its release. If you use that logic, the original was a blank sheet of paper and didn't include anything.

> > "" The original constitution didn't even include the bill of rights..."

> I've heard this before and it's complete bullshit.

Well, except for the part where its completely true.

> The constitution as originally ratified by all the colonies included the bill of rights.

No, it didn't. The Constitution, without amendments, was ratified in 1788. The 12-amendment Bill of Rights was passed by Congress and submitted to the States for ratification in 1789. Of those 12 amendments, the last 10 were ratified in 1791 and became Amendments 1-10 to the Constitution (what is popularly now known as the "Bill of Rights"), while the second was ratified in 1992 and became Amendment 27, and the first is, technically, still pending and open for ratification.