Creating the United States

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Jefferson Sees a Need for a Bill of Rights

Jefferson Sees a Need for a Bill of Rights (079.02.00)

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n this letter to David Humphreys (1753–1808), soldier, diplomat, poet, and confidant of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson voices his concern that the new federal Constitution lacks a bill of rights and fails to set term limits on the presidency. Jefferson favored the addition of a declaration of rights as a supplement to the basic constitutional document—the method of amendment chosen by Congress later in 1789.

(Transcription)

“a general concurrence of opinion seems to authorize us to say it has some defects ...”


n this letter to David Humphreys (1753–1808), soldier, diplomat, poet, and confidant of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson voices his concern that the new federal Constitution lacks a bill of rights and fails to set term limits on the presidency. Jefferson favored the addition of a declaration of rights as a supplement to the basic constitutional document—the method of amendment chosen by Congress later in 1789.