Did any states not ratify the Bill of Rights?

Asked by: Prof. Willie Prosacco MD  |  Last update: February 27, 2025
Score: 4.2/5 (70 votes)

When the Second Congress adjourned, the ratification of 10 Amendments by 11 States had been officially received by Jefferson, the Congress, and the President. The Constitution now contained a Bill of Rights. Three States did not officially support the adoption or rejection of the Bill of Rights.

Did all states ratify the Bill of Rights?

Once the Bill of Rights was ratified by three-fourths of the states in 1791, it became part of the law of the land, and there was no legal need for any further ratifications. At the time Virginia ratified, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Georgia had not sent their approvals to Congress.

What states never ratified the Constitution?

The Constitution encountered stiff opposition. The vote was 187 to 168 in Massachusetts, 57 to 47 in New Hampshire, 30 to 27 in New York, and 89 to 79 in Virginia. Two states, North Carolina and Rhode Island, refused to ratify the new plan of government.

What states did not ratify the Equal Rights Amendment?

The 15 states whose legislatures did not ratify the Equal Rights Amendment by the 1982 deadline are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia.

Can states ignore the Bill of Rights?

However, the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) did forbid states to abridge the rights of any citizen without due process, and, beginning in the 20th century, the U.S. Supreme Court gradually applied most of the guarantees of the Bill of Rights to state governments as well.

Why wasn’t the Bill of Rights originally in the US Constitution? - James Coll

44 related questions found

Does the Bill of Rights apply to all states?

Under the doctrine of “incorporation,” Supreme Court decisions incorporated many Bill of Rights guarantees into the 14th Amendment, applying them to state and local governments.

Which state tried to nullify federal laws?

Nullification Crisis, in U.S. history, confrontation between the state of South Carolina and the federal government in 1832–33 over the former's attempt to declare null and void within the state the federal Tariffs of 1828 and 1832.

What two amendments were not ratified by the states?

In 1789, at the time of the submission of the Bill of Rights, twelve pro-were ratified and became the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Proposed Articles I and II were not ratified with these ten, but, in 1992, Article II was proclaimed as ratified, 203 years later.

What states did not ratify women's right to vote?

Alabama and Georgia were the first states to defeat ratification. The governor of Louisiana worked to organize 13 states to resist ratifying the amendment. The Maryland legislature refused to ratify the amendment and attempted to prevent other states from doing so.

Did any states not ratify the 13th Amendment?

Two Union states, Delaware and New Jersey, had already rejected the 13th Amendment, as had two Southern states, Kentucky and Mississippi. Three Western states, Iowa, California and Oregon, as well as Florida and Texas, had yet to vote on it.

Why did North Carolina not ratify the Constitution?

One of the major reasons for North Carolina not ratifying the Constitution was its lack of a Bill of Rights. The delegates, however, proposed a series of amendments to personal liberties and urged the new federal Congress to adopt measures to incorporate a bill of rights into the Constitution.

What was the first state in the United States?

Delaware was one of the Thirteen Colonies that participated in the American Revolution against Great Britain, which established the United States as an independent nation. On December 7, 1787, Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution of the United States, earning it the nickname "The First State".

Which states did not ratify the 2nd Amendment?

So everything depends on what we can find out about Massachusetts and Connecticut. For the original Second Amendment—what we shall call “the Congressional Pay Amendment”—to be part of the Bill of Rights would have required one of the following three states to agree: Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Georgia.

Were there any states that did not ratify the Constitution?

The vote was 187 to 168 in Massachusetts, 57 to 47 in New Hampshire, 30 to 27 in New York, and 89 to 79 in Virginia. Two states, North Carolina and Rhode Island, refused to ratify the new plan of government. Those who opposed the adoption of the Constitution were known as the Antifederalists.

Can the bill of rights be changed?

Of course, the Constitution wasn't perfect. It has been amended 27 times, including the Bill of Rights. But every amendment should be a change that brings the document more – not less – in line with our founding principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility and limited government.

Which right isn't guaranteed in the First Amendment?

Only that expression that is shown to belong to a few narrow categories of speech is not protected by the First Amendment. The categories of unprotected speech include obscenity, child pornography, defamatory speech, false advertising, true threats, and fighting words.

Why didn't Florida ratify the 19th Amendment?

Florida, however, did not hold a vote on the amendment. Many politicians and newspapers in the state were against women's suffrage.

Which state never ratified the Equal rights Amendment?

The 15 states that did not ratify the Equal Rights Amendment before the 1982 deadline were Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia.

Why did it take 47 years to pass the 19th Amendment?

Several states reacted actively rejected the Amendment in 1919 and 1920. Eleven states ratified it after it had already been certified in 1920—but not all at once. It would be fifty years before South Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana would do so, with Mississippi becoming the last to join in 1984.

What were the six unratified amendments?

These unratified amendments address the size of the U.S. House (1789), foreign titles of nobility (1810), slavery (1861), child labor (1924), equal rights for women (1972), and representation for the District of Columbia (1978).

Can Congress name someone a prince or a duke?

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Why did the Equal Rights Amendment fail?

Support in the states that had not ratified fell below 50%. Public opinion in key states shifted against the ERA as its opponents, operating on the local and state levels, won over the public. The state legislators in battleground states followed public opinion in rejecting the ERA.

Can states ignore federal law?

Ableman found that the Constitution gave the Supreme Court final authority to determine the extent and limits of federal power and that the states therefore do not have the power to nullify federal law.

What state threatened to nullify?

In 1832, after the passage of another tariff, South Carolina declared the tariffs null and void, and threatened to leave the Union in the Ordinance of Nullification. Jackson responded swiftly, calling the action treasonous.

Who believed that states could nullify federal laws?

In response to the Tariff of 1828, vice president John C. Calhoun asserted that states had the right to nullify federal laws.