ABSTRACT
Given the nature and composition of the men who drew up the Constitution, it should come as no surprise that a bill of rights was only briefly considered. Redundancy with state constitutions was not the Federalists' only argument. They publicly reasoned that the American people should rely on the tradition of individual liberties that came down to them by custom from English history and law. The Federalists persisted, arguing that a bill of rights was unnecessary because in America all power is "of people and by the people", even though the Federalists had gone to great lengths to make this assertion erroneous. The deliberate avoidance of a bill of rights was a major misstep by the Federalists, given the deep historical treasure of individual rights and liberties that are second nature to anyone of Anglo-American heritage. In American minds, individual rights were far more numerous than what are now found in the Constitution.
