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The United States Supreme Court building, Washington, D.C.

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Clouds of smoke billow up from controlled burns taking place in the Gulf of Mexico May 19, 2010. The controlled burns were set to reduce the amount of oil in the water following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. BP spill

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Ethel Rosenberg arrested in August 1950. Photograph dated Aug. 8, 1950. American civilians executed for espionage. Spies, communists, Julius Rosenberg

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Illustration by the CDC, reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. Note the spikes on the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically. A novel coronavirus,

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illustration of the walking titanosaurus, Patagotitan mayorum

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Submerged sperm whale off east Sri Lanka coast, mammal

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earthquake. Heavily damaged school in the town of Yingxiu after a major earthquake struck China's Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008.

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How was the Bill of Rights added to the U.S. Constitution?

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Feb 21, 2025

James Madison drew on the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, and Virginia’s Declaration of Rights, mainly written by George Mason, in drafting 19 amendments, which he submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives on June 8, 1789. The House approved 17 of them and sent it to the U.S. Senate, which approved 12 of them on September 25. Ten were ratified by the states and became law on December 15, 1791.