The Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to 'create' rights. Rather, they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting.

Summary

This quote expresses the perspective that the Framers of the United States Bill of Rights did not intend to establish new rights through this document. Instead, their intention was to safeguard and protect existing rights and liberties that were already understood to exist. The Bill of Rights was designed as a means to explicitly restrict the government from encroaching upon these fundamental rights rather than granting new ones. In essence, it underscores the idea that these rights are inherent and preexisting, not created by the government.