“(A) Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or in particular, and what no just government should refuse.” Thomas Jefferson December 20, 1787
KENT—Join Kent Good Times Dispatch Editor Kathryn Boughton, members of the
Board of Directors of Kent News, Inc., the nonprofit publishing company of the GTD, and some of our volunteers on Friday, Dec. 15 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Fife ’n Drum restaurant in Kent as we celebrate Bill of Rights Day.
Light Refreshments will be served.
The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution are referred to as the “Bill of Rights” and delineate a series of rights held by the people. These are rights that cannot be legislated away by the federal government.
In 1787 when the Constitution was written it did not include protection for the rights of the people. There was a great deal of controversy and discussion about whether it was necessary to enumerate them. The Federalist’s felt that it was unnecessary, and the Anti-Federalists refused to support the Constitution without them.
Many of the states refused to ratify the Constitution without the guarantee of a “Bill of Rights.”
On Sept. 25, 1781, Congress sent to the states 12 proposed amendments to the
new Constitution. The amendments, written by James Madison and influenced by the writings of Thomas Jefferson, were sent to the states for ratification.
The first two were rejected and on Dec. 15, 1791, Virginia’s legislature approved the remaining 10 giving the amendments the three-fourths of the states needed for ratification.
Perhaps no other amendment to the Constitution is more important to a free people than the First Amendment, which guarantees the rights to freedom of religion, speech, a free press and the right to petition and assemble.
We at the GTD are celebrating, in particular, the First Amendment and its protection of a free press. Amendment I. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
So please join us on Friday, Dec. 15, from 4-6 p.m. at the Fife ’n Drum restaurant to celebrate the return of the Kent Good Times Dispatch, meet the editor, Kathryn
Boughton, and help us celebrate the ratification of the “Bill of Rights,” “an indispensable bulwark of Liberty.”
