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History 749
Ordinance of 1787 749
Formulation and adoption of the bill of rights 750
Bill of rights and the States: Barron _v._ Baltimore 750
Bill of rights and Amendment XIV 750

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION

AMENDMENTS NOS. 1-10

Bill of Rights

HISTORY: THE ORDINANCE OF 1787

While the Constitutional Convention was engaged in drafting the
Constitution, the Congress of the Confederation included in the
Ordinance for the government of the Northwest Territory, adopted July
13, 1787, the following provisions:

"It is hereby ordained and declared by the authority aforesaid, that the
following articles shall be considered as articles of compact between
the original States and the people and States in the said territory and
forever remain unalterable, unless by common consent, to wit:

"Art. 1. No person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and
orderly manner, shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship
or religious sentiments, in the said territory.

"Art. 2. The inhabitants of the said territory shall always be
entitled to the benefits of the writ of _habeas corpus_, and of the
trial by jury; of a proportionate representation of the people in the
legislature; and of judicial proceedings according to the course of the
common law. All persons shall be bailable, unless for capital offenses,
where the proof shall be evident or the presumption great. All fines
shall be moderate; and no cruel or unusual punishments shall be
inflicted. No man shall be deprived of his liberty or property, but by
the judgment of his peers or the law of the land; and, should the public
exigencies make it necessary, for the common preservation, to take any
person's property, or to demand his particular services, full
compensation shall be made for the same. And, in the just preservation
of rights and property, it is understood and declared, that no law ought
ever to be made, or have force in the said territory, that shall, in any
manner whatever, interfere with or affect private contracts or
engagements, _bona fide_, and without fraud, previously formed.

"Art. 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to
good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of
education shall forever be e