On September 25, 1789, the First Congress proposed twelve amendments to the Constitution. The first two of those amendments, which addressed the number of constitutents for each representative in Congress and the compensation of Congressmen (they were, of course, all men at that time) were not adopted. The remainder did get ratified by the required number of states. These amendments became what we now know as the Bill of Rights.
The Bill of Rights, designed to protect individual rights at a time when the memory of British tyranny was fresh in the minds of the First Congress, has been the source of much appellate litigation. Not everyone agrees with the way that the Supreme Court has interpreted various provisions of the Bill of Rights. But September 25 is as good a day as any to think about what our nation would be like without those expressly guaranteed rights.