to Thomas Jefferson, November 10, 1787

John Adams knew something about compromise. It is what he had to fashion among the delegates of the Continental Congress in order to achieve Independence. The Constitutional Convention was in similar array, and needed to reach compromise to achieve a governing document.

But approving the Constitution was not the end – but only the beginning.

I’ll let President Adams continue the story.

When James Madison crafted a Bill of Rights for the Constitution, he essentially lifted the Virginia Declaration of Rights, and made some adjustments and well, amendments of his own. 

I have seen differing accounts of Madison providing ​nineteen or more different amendments to Congress – the House chose seventeen, and the Senate eventually whittled the list down to twelve. Numbers three through twelve made the cut in state approval. The first two benched amendments were:

Article the First (that’s how Madison titled it) was a formula for popular representation. My math skills are not strong enough to properly explain it. Suffice it to say, it didn't make it.

​Article the Second would have kept the Congress from voting themselves pay raises every year. A similar amendment (actually, the same amendment, reintroduced) was eventually passed in ​1992, though there are bypasses that the Congress keeps finding…​

Below is an image from the National Archives of the Senate's revisions of the House revisions of Madison's amendments. It was--messy.