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Rights of the people were now becoming an important part of government, so much so that in 1689 before William and Mary could assume the throne of Britain a condition or agreement was put before them, which said that they would have to agree on an act of Parliament known as the Bill of Rights. Among other things it guaranteed the right of British subjects to petition the king and to bear arms. The one downfall to this Bill would have to be that it could be changed at any time. Several English citizens left their homeland to form new colonies such as Rohde Island and Massachusetts and recognize freedom of conscience; it wasn't until 1641 that the Massachusetts body of liberties was enacted. It was the first detailed protection of rights in America.
The Virginia Declaration of Rights served as a model for eight of the 12 other states that adopted new constitutions during the revolutionary period. Established in June of 1776 this document would later appear in the U.S. Bill of Rights. While the new states were protecting individual rights, the government's constitution or Article of confederation as it was called then was not. This article was creating many problems, so in 1787 these problems led to a convention to draft a new charter for the national government, the Constitution of the United States would be born. .
On June 21st 1788 the constitution was put into effect, with the understanding that an amendment would be framed to include individual Rights. Ironic as it was another promise would have to be made. Many people were opposed to a Constitution with no detailed word on individual rights. Nearly 100 years earlier 97 to be exact, when William and Mary were simply asked to agree on individual rights before assuming the throne, it was now put in the hands of New Hampshire the ninth state needed to ratify the U.S. Constitution, a constitution that took four months to frame, a constitution that would be called "The Miracle at Philadelphia".