Here's a little bit of history I found at TWP.
In 1776 John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail: "The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. . . . It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfire and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. "
Jefferson disliked the idea of a permanent constitution, thinking it would become a "dead hand of the past" weighing on future generations. He proposed that the Constitution expire every 19 years so that a new one, more attuned to current issues, could be written. Fortunately, James Madison persuaded him not to pursue the idea.
Yet Madison himself, the father of the Constitution, was not always right. Dismissing bills of rights as mere "parchment barriers," he argued against their inclusion at the Constitutional Convention, although he later changed his mind.
The Bill of Rights as we know it also is not what was initially proposed. The original first two amendments, one of which concerned the number of constituents each member of Congress had and one regarding congressmen's salaries, were never ratified by the states. What we think of today as our First Amendment freedoms were actually third on the list.
John Adams also offered up the occasional harebrained idea. Believing that government officials needed titles to preserve their dignity, he proposed that America's first president be known as "His Highness the President of the United States of America, and Protector of Their Liberties."
A truism during the early years of the Revolution was that "where annual elections end, tyranny begins." Fortunately for us, experience convinced many of our forefathers that longer terms might yield greater stability.
Then again, some founders cared too much for stability. The first Treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton, proposed that Senate and presidential terms be for life.
He often complained that the Constitution did not create a powerful enough national government, calling the document "frail and worthless fabric." He was hardly alone in failing to recognize its value: Historians estimate that more than half the country opposed ratifying the Constitution.
Here is an image of the Declaration of Independence.
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