.


SCI LIBRARY

The Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson

By Subject


CONSITUTION / UNITED STATES / BILL OF RIGHTS



A little reflection soon convinced me it ought not to be. What I disapproved from the first moment, also, was the want of a bill of rights to guard liberty against the legislative as well as the executive branches of the government; that is to say, to secure freedom in religion, freedom of the press, freedom from monopolies, freedom from unlawful imprisonment, freedom from a permanent military, and a trial by jury in all cases determinable by the laws of the land. I disapproved, also, the perpetual re-eligibility of the President.

Francis Hopkinson, 13 March 1789