Thomas Jefferson once wrote, "A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference." Delegates from 13 colonies met in Philadelphia to discuss how they were going to govern the unprecedented people through the future vying. The Constitution of the United States was the end result of their gatherings. Contrary to all reason was the blueprint of a new nation.

The drafters of our Constitution drew their idea of civil liberty from assorted historical experiences. Greek philosophers had the concept of the principle of the rule of law. From them came the idea of "natural law" and its by-product, the concept of equality. The Romans had a governmental structure based on the separation of powers. The greatest influence, however, came from England and her principle of equality before the...