Later today on the downtown mall in Charlottesville, the Jefferson Area Libertarians will sponsor a celebration of the Bill of Rights.
Annual Gathering
Each year since 1999 (or perhaps earlier), Libertarian Party members from Albemarle County, Charlottesville, and nearby communities have gathered for a public reading of the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution on the anniversary of their ratification, December 15.
Usually the "acclamation" of the Bill of Rights is followed by remarks by local political leaders and a retreat to a local eatery for discussion and the imbibing of adult beverages.
John Munchmeyer, chairman of the Jefferson Area Libertarians, told the Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner in an email that "the purpose of the Bill of Rights Acclamation is to honor and pay respect to the founding principles of our country, and to clarify that individual rights are supreme and may not be trampled by government."
2010 Speakers
This year the speakers will include Robert Tracinski, political director of the Jefferson Area Tea Party, who will talk about the Ninth Amendment, which is much more than the "ink blot" dismissed by former federal judge Robert Bork.
In addition, radio host Joe Thomas of WCHV (1260 AM and 94.1 FM) will discuss the Fifth Amendment and also the controversy surrounding James Madison’s original resistance to the idea of the Bill of Rights. Madison, of course, was persuaded by George Mason and others to add a Bill of Rights to the Constitution, and he became the principal sponsor of the first 12 amendments introduced in the first Congress.
First 12 Amendments
Ten of those amendments were ratified on December 15, 1791; another of Madison's original proposals eventually became the Twenty-Seventh Amendment, ratified in 1992, more than two centuries after it was originally introduced.
It was serendipitous, actually, that Amendment XXVII took so long to be approved, because had it been ratified along with the rest, the Bill of Rights would not begin with the ringing set of phrases referring to fundamental liberties, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances," but rather with the mundane and pecuniary "No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened."
Time and Place
The Bill of Rights Acclamation will begin at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 15, at the First Amendment Monument across from City Hall, on the east end of the downtown mall in Charlottesville. The event is free and open to the public.
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