Not only was John Adams not present at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, neither was Thomas Jefferson. Although Jefferson had sent his good friend, James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, trunk-loads of books about government for use in preparing for the Constitution.

Why wasn’t Jefferson there? He was in France, from where he sent those books to Madison. Why was he in France? Because he was sent there by Congress to join Benjamin Franklin and John Adams in preparing the Treaty of Paris which ended the Revolutionary War. Adams went to England and Franklin returned home to Pennsylvania after that treaty was signed.

Jefferson was then commissioned by Congress to remain in France as the diplomat to represent the new United States of America. Jefferson did, however, object to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, as did Patrick Henry. Why? Because they both felt that the written document didn’t give enough protection to the common citizens of America. And that is why James Madison returned to Congress and presented some 26 Amendments to the newly ratified Constitution.

Twelve of those Amendments were approved by Congress and were sent to the States for ratification. Ten Amendments were approved by the States and became the first 10 Commandments, no, I mean Amendments. These are known as our Bill of Rights. These were added to give additional security and protection to the rights of ordinary Americans. Maybe they didn’t go far enough?