Celebration Honors Bill of Rights

Two hundred years after the Bill of Rights was ratified to limit the powers of the fledgling government, visitors to the nation’s birthplace signed a copy in a “people’s celebration” Sunday.

On Dec. 15, 1791, Virginia became the 11th state to ratify the Bill of Rights, the Constitution’s first 10 Amendments, making it law. Congress Hall, adjacent to Independence Hall, was the home of Congress at the time.

By midafternoon Sunday, more than 1,600 people had entered the hall to sign. A line forced some to wait outside in blustery, cold weather for five minutes.

Park Ranger Lee Dickinson said Congress Hall usually gets 200 visitors a day at this time of year.

“This is a people’s celebration,” said Martha Aikens, superintendent of Independence National Historical Park. “In a small way, we hope they will feel part of a history-making event.”

The document signed Sunday had been hand-copied by 165 people--the governor, one teacher and one student from each of the 50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Samoa, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Bill of Rights fulfilled a political promise made to assure states’ acceptance of the Constitution. Many distrusted the new nation’s centralized government and wanted the Constitution to include a declaration of rights and governmental limits.