Credit: Library of Congress
At the insistence of Pennsylvania delegates, Article 5 of the first 17 amendments to the Constitution that the House of Representatives passed on August 24, 1789 included the following language: "A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the People, being the best security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed, but no one religiously scrupulous of bearing arms, shall be compelled to render military service in person." When the Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15, 1791, however, the 2nd Amendment would not contain the clause exempting Quakers and other religious pacifists from military service. Congress removed the clause when it reduced the number of amendments from 17 to 12 in September, 1789.
