[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 194 (Friday, December 16, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2303]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




220TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE RATIFICATION OF THE FIRST 10 AMENDMENTS TO THE 
                    CONSTITUTION, THE BILL OF RIGHTS

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                           HON. CORY GARDNER

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 16, 2011

  Mr. GARDNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark the 220th anniversary 
of the ratification of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, the 
Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights serves to check the power of 
government and preserve the freedom of Americans. Our founding fathers 
realized that even well intentioned governments answerable to the will 
of the voters can grow to be tyrannical. They recognized that 
protections were needed to guard against government interference and so 
they enshrined those protections in the highest law of the land. The 
Bill of Rights is unique in that it is a document that outlines 
government power not by what the government can do but by what it CAN'T 
do. The spirit of our nation is in that distinction. We are a nation 
built on the idea that private individuals could create private 
industry with private interests and build a great society without an 
all knowing bureaucracy telling them how to do it. Times have changed 
since 1791. Our nation has grown, our government has grown, and today 
we inhabit a different world. There is no way that Madison and 
Jefferson and the rest of the founders who fought for a Bill of Rights 
could have envisioned the country we have become. Over the years we 
have fought many battles over the interpretation of these amendments 
and these principles have stood the test of time. The Bill of Rights is 
a fundamental feature of our country and a beacon to the rest of the 
world that freedom works, it is to be celebrated, and not repressed.

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