Major Mike | Today in History 11/20 (US Bill of Rights)

Copy of the Bill of Rights (© Aaron Haupt/Getty Images)

(1789) New Jersey becomes first state to ratify the Bill of Rights

New Jersey ratifies the Bill of Rights, a collection of amendments written by James Madison to ease concerns that the US Constitution had invested the federal government with too much power. New Jersey does, however, reject one of the original 12 amendments: Article II, which regulated congressional pay raises.

The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. Proposed following the oftentimes bitter 1787–88 battle over ratification of the U.S. Constitution, and crafted to address the objections raised by Anti-Federalists, the Bill of Rights amendments add to the Constitution specific guarantees of personal freedoms and rights, clear limitations on the government’s power in judicial and other proceedings, and explicit declarations that all powers not specifically delegated to Congress by the Constitution are reserved for the states or the people. The concepts codified in these amendments are built upon those found in several earlier documents, including the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the English Bill of Rights 1689, along with earlier documents such as Magna Carta. In practice, the amendments had little impact on judgements by the courts for the first 150 years after ratification.

The Bill of Rights, twelve articles of amendment to the to the United States Constitution proposed in 1789, ten of which, Articles three through twelve, became part of the United States Constitution in 1791. Note that the First Amendment is actually “Article the third” on the document, Second Amendment is “Article the fourth”, and so on. “Article the second” is now the 27th Amendment. “Article the first” has not been ratified.
wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights

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(1789) New Jersey becomes first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
Also on this day,

1820 | Sperm whale sinks whaling ship

An 80-ton sperm whale rams and sinks a whaleship, the Essex, from Massachusetts. Twenty crewmembers escape in open boats, but only five will survive the harrowing three months adrift; three others will be rescued off an island. Herman Melville will base his novel ‘Moby-Dick’ on this true-life tale.

1945 | Nazi leaders go on trial for World War II atrocities as Nuremburg Trials begin

Judges from the US, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union preside over the military tribunals in Nuremburg opening today to try Nazi officials for crimes against humanity, among other charges. Twelve Nazi leaders will be sentenced to death. Adolf Hitler won’t be among them, having already shot himself.

1995 | Princess Diana admits she had an affair

Britain’s Princess Diana speaks candidly about her troubled marriage with Prince Charles in a widely watched BBC interview. Diana admits to infidelity and talks about her struggles with depression and bulimia. She also predicts she will never be queen of England, but hopes to be “queen of people’s hearts.”

Today in History ^11/20/17

Hans Frank, standing, makes his final plea to the court at the International Military Tribunals in Nuremberg, Germany in 1946 (© War Department/AP)

(1945) Nazi leaders go on trial for World War II atrocities

Judges from the US, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union preside over the military tribunals in Nuremburg opening today to try Nazi officials for crimes against humanity, among other charges. Twelve Nazi leaders will be sentenced to death. Adolf Hitler won't be among them, having already shot himself.

The Nuremberg trials were a series of military tribunals held by the Allied forces under international law and the laws of war after World War II. The trials were most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, judicial and economic leadership of Nazi Germany, who planned, carried out, or otherwise participated in the Holocaust and other war crimes. The trials were held in the city of Nuremberg, Germany, and their decisions marked a turning point between classical and contemporary international law.

Start date: Nov 20, 1945
End date: Oct 01, 1946

Chief American prosecutor Robert H. Jackson addresses the Nuremberg court. 20 November 1945.