EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) – America adopted the Bill of Rights on December 15, 1791. To celebrate the 234th birthday, the League of Women Voters of Greater Chippewa Valley got people together to show or sing their appreciation for our Founding Fathers efforts.
League member Annemarie McLellan said the overall point in these amendments was “to ensure that individuals had rights. It was right after the Constitution was written, and they were afraid that the federal government would overstep the rights of individuals. So that’s why these first 10 amendments became part of our Bill of Rights.”
The amendments include fundamental freedoms, the right to bear arms, quartering soldiers, rights of persons, criminal prosecutions, civil trial rights and cruel and unusual punishment.
After going through each amendment, league members recognized the privileges Americans have.
“They guarantee our freedoms to do what we’re doing here today, to speak in public. It is something to celebrate because it’s not true in all countries. It truly makes America a great place to be and that we can have these individual freedoms and protections, and that they’re widely accepted all the way across the United States,” McLellan said.
She also encouraged people to stay educated on these freedoms. This is because “there’s 10 of them and people should look them up and read them and be aware of what our rights are because we fight long and hard for these. We need to stay aware because our rights can get slowly infringed upon and chipped away if we’re not paying attention,” she said.
Copyright 2025 WEAU. All rights reserved.
