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The Bill Of Rights As A Term Of Art, Gerard N. Magliocca

Notre Dame Law Review

This Article argues that the use of the “Bill of Rights” to describe the first

set of constitutional amendments emerged long after the Founding as a justification

for expanding federal power at home and abroad. In making that

claim, I challenge two common misconceptions about the Bill of Rights. One

is that the first set of amendments was known by that name from the start.

This is not true. James Madison never said that what was ratified in 1791 was

a bill of rights, and that label was not widely used for those provisions until

after 1900. The second fallacy …