What is the Preamble of the Bill of Rights?

The Preamble of the Bill of Rights is the brief introduction that explains why Congress proposed the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Adopted by the First Congress on September 25, 1789 and ratified along with the amendments on December 15, 1791, the preamble reads: The Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.

The text identifies two purposes for the amendments. The first is to prevent misconstruction or abuse of the federal government's powers, addressing Anti-Federalist concerns that the original Constitution provided too few explicit limits on Congress, the executive, and the judiciary. The second is to extend the ground of public confidence in the Government by adding declaratory clauses that restate fundamental rights and restrictive clauses that explicitly forbid particular government actions.

The preamble reflects the political compromise that produced the Bill of Rights. Several state ratifying conventions, especially Virginia, North Carolina, and New York, demanded that the new federal government accept amendments protecting individual liberty before they would ratify the Constitution. James Madison, who had originally opposed adding a bill of rights as unnecessary because the federal government held only enumerated powers, was persuaded by Thomas Jefferson and others to take up the cause in the First Congress.

Madison drafted a list of amendments and proposed them to the House on June 8, 1789. Congress reduced his proposals to twelve amendments and sent them to the states on September 25, 1789. Ten amendments were ratified on December 15, 1791. One of the rejected amendments, regarding congressional pay, was finally ratified in 1992 as the Twenty-Seventh Amendment. The other rejected amendment regarded the size of the House of Representatives.

The preamble is rarely cited in legal disputes because the substantive text of the amendments themselves carries most of the constitutional weight. However, it is a useful reminder that the framers viewed the Bill of Rights as both protective of liberty and supportive of public confidence in the new federal government. Naturalization candidates encountering questions about the Preamble of the Bill of Rights should recognize it as the brief introductory statement that frames the first ten amendments as restrictive and declaratory provisions added to the Constitution.