In June 1789, the First Congress of the United States proposed 12 amendments to the Constitution. Ten of the 12 were ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures on December 15, 1791. The ratified Articles constitute the first 10 amendments of the Constitution, also known as the U.S. Bill of Rights. It guarantees civil rights and liberties, like freedom of speech, press, religion, and due process.
Over the years, the Constitution has been amended an additional 17 times. In 1992, 203 years after it was proposed, Article 2 of the original Bill of Rights was ratified as the 27th Amendment to the Constitution. There have been numerous suggestions for new amendments since 1992, but none have made it out of Congress.
On December 13, 1952, the Charters of Freedom were permanently relocated from the Library of Congress to the National Archives in a procession of tanks in an armored personnel carrier. Upon arrival, the documents were placed in a custom-built, 50-ton, steel and concrete, bomb- and fire-proof safe.
The original 1789 Joint Resolution of Congress proposing the amendments is on permanent display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum.
