The basic disagreement between the two factions at the Constitutional Convention, Federalists and Anti-federalists, is well known. The focus of their problem as it came down to the last days of the Convention was the absence of a Bill of Rights. When it became obvious to the Federalists that states such as Virginia would not ratify the Constitution without such a bill, the motion was carried to begin the process of amending the original Constitution. To that end James Madison was charged with drawing up a list of rights to be considered for inclusion, first by the Congress and then by the states. Madison drew upon his knowledge of the Enlightenment philosophers and the Bill of Rights of his own state of Virginia which had been drafted in 1776.
Madison was at first opposed to the idea of a bill of rights, agreeing with other Federalists that such an document was merely a "parchment barrier". It was the reality of the ratification process that brought Madison and the Federalists around. During the debate over ratification in Massachusetts the Anti- federalists increased their demands to include a "second convention" to alter the Constitution.
In the face of these demands, Madison, who was running against Patrick Henry's candidate (James Monroe) for a seat in the new House of Representatives, promised his fellow Virginians that he would fight for the necessary amendments. It was Madison's responsiveness to his constituents demands which led to his conversion. His draft amendments were submitted to the House on June 8, 1789. The newspaper clipping describes the 17 Amendments that were approved by the House and passed on to the Senate. In the end the Senate only approved 12 of the original 17 and of those 12 the states only ratified 10.
In May 1992, the 11th of the original 12 was finally ratified after 200 years to become the 27th Amendment. (See notes attached.)
Madison's number 14, which was not approved by the Senate, he regarded as " the most valuable amendment in the whole list." This amendment which prohibits the states from depriving the people of their rights to trial by jury, rights of conscience and freedom of speech and press did not become law until after the Civil War when the 14th Amendment declared "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge...". Even with that amendment, efforts to apply the Bill of Rights to the states- what has become known as "incorporation" did not occur until 1925 when the Supreme Court used the "due process" clause to require states to respect the rights of the people in the same way the federal government had been required to do since 1791. [LS11]