B Y B E AU M I L LW O O D

The 10 Little Bills

What are the Bill of Rights?

After the leaders of the new United States wrote the

Constitution, they had to get the thirteen states to

agree to it. Some of the states didn't want to agree.

So in 1791, the United States the first ten

“Amendments” were added to the Constitution.

These are called the Bill of Rights.

One day, George Washington (the first President and hero of the Revolutionary

War) came across a house made of sticks, a house made of straw, a house made of brick, and behind the houses lied a hill known as “Capital Hill.” He

surrounded the houses with soldiers so he could take control of them.

1st, 2nd, and 3rd Amendments

Washington entered the house made of sticks and saw

Alexander Hamilton (the first Secretary of Treasury and

created banks that are still used today) and Benjamin

Franklin (writer of original Declaration of Independence

and maker of eye glasses) sitting at a table. They were

talking about how George Washington was a bad

Christian leader. On the table, there was a gun with a

bayonet on the end that they used for protection.

Suddenly, a soldier knocked at the door and asked to

stay the night and get something to eat. Hamilton and

Franklin said “No” and then ran out the back door before

the soldiers burned down their home.

4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments

So Washington burnt down the house and went to the straw house. He entered without permission in search of new soldiers for battle. There, laying on the floor sleeping, was Abraham Baldwin (founder of the University of Georgia). He woke up in a startle to Washington standing above him. Washington asked Baldwin if he had any friends living with him that he could take and use as soldiers for battle. Baldwin said “No.” He demanded Washington to leave because the 4th

Amendment says that nobody can search your house without a good reason. Washington didn’t listen and arrested Baldwin. After taking Baldwin out of his house, Washington searched every room and found 4 other grown men hiding in the bathroom. He knew Baldwin had lied. Without even thinking about it, Washington set fire to the house and left in a furious stomp.

7th, 8th, and 9th Amendments

He finally moved to the last house, made of brick. Once George was about to storm the home, Abraham Baldwin, already in handcuffs by the other soldiers, screamed out “I am innocent! I committed no crime! I want a jury to hear my side of the story!” So George led him to court because the 7th

Amendment says that people have a right to a jury at any time. Eventually, Baldwin is eventually found guilty of lying to the government. George wants to torture and punish Baldwin, but he cant because it is against the 8th Amendment. Finally, George raids the last house, but he is not able to burn it. Washington stops, goes into deep thought, and noticed that there are more rights than just the Bill of Rights. After this thought, he ordered that the brick house be torn down, brick by brick. This took almost a week, but while he was waiting for his soldiers to tear down the house, Washington went to Capital Hill to meet his friend William Few (one of the only signers of the Constitution that was a farmer and a politician).

10th Amendment

George Washington had finally reached the top of Capital Hill, when all of a sudden, 13 men appeared at the top, each one representing the state they are from. The leader of the 13 men, Alexander Hamilton, represented New York. He said to Washington that the people of each state were tired of their homes and towns being raided just to force people to become soldiers. He had no choice but to stop invading peoples homes because each state had its own power, and since they all wanted Washington to stop, he was forced to. Washington was the cause of many homes being destroyed, and because of that, the government made him rebuild every single home he tore apart and build every house a new chimney. When he was making the very last chimney for the very last house, Washington slipped and fell into the fire below. The only thing that people found of him, was his sword and his hat that laid on top of the house from which he fell.

Links

Video:

http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/northamerica/after

1500/government/billofrightsmovie.htm

Bill of Rights for Kids:

http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/us/billofri

ghtsdef.htm

http://www.texaslre.org/downloads/bore.pdf