Episode 28: Introducing the Bill of Rights

In this episode, Jay and Luke introduce the principles underpinning the Bill of Rights.

In this episode, Jay and Luke introduce the principles underpinning the Bill of Rights. Instead of seeing the Bill of Rights as just a list of citizen benefits, the founding generation recognized it as a set of interlocking institutions. These institutions were designed to recreate the citizen-to-citizen relationships typical of small, traditional republics. Republican theorists had long assumed those bonds of affection, and the shared habits and interests underpinning them, were essential to a stable republican government. Madison of course disagreed, and argued that an extended republic could just as ably solve the problem of political faction within republics by balancing factions against one another. However, traditional republican theory still argued that homogeneity and familiarity protected liberty and guaranteed citizen loyalty. Madison crafted the Bill of Rights to recreate the experience of a small republic inside his extended republic. Finally, beyond promoting citizen loyalty and contributing to stability, Madison constructed the Bill of Rights to be enforced, so that the rights it promises are protected by the institutions it creates.