It was 98 years in the making, but the Buddhist country of Bhutan became an democracy on December 17, 2005 when King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, announced that he would abdicate, clearing the way for the country’s first general elections in 2008.
Bhutan was first formed on December 17 1907 by the Wangchuk Dynasty, a kingdom that was formally recognized by the British government who signed a treaty with Bhutan in 1910. The reigning monarchs seemed to have a bent for democracy, especially King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck who during his term set up a a 130-member National Assembly to promote a more democratic form of governance.

This tiny land-locked country in Asia is a mystery to many. They were one of the last countries to allow television and Internet (in 1999) and they measure their country’s quality of life with the Gross National Happiness, a play on the more commonly used Gross National Product, which measures the goods a country produces in terms of dollars.

When the Founding Fathers came up with the Constitution of the United States, they knew better than to think that it was a perfect document. They left room for improvement and those came in 1791 when the first ten amendments, or the Bill of Rights, was enacted. President Franklin D. Roosevelt recognized the importance of these rights on Dec. 15, 1941 when he declared the 150th anniversary of the ratification “Bill of Rights Day”.

The Bill of Rights are a guarantee of the “rights of free men against tyrants.” The first ten amendments to our Constitution are concerned with the following topics:

Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, petition.
Right to keep and bear arms
Rights regarding the quartering of soldiers
Regulation of search and seizure
Protection of persons and their property
Rights of persons accused of crime
Right of trial by jury
Protection against excessive fines, bail, punishment
Guarantee of unspecified rights
Powers reserved to states and the people

Originals of the Bill of Rights and other documents pertaining to the founding of the United States are kept in the National Archives in Washington DC. They have a great website were you can view the images of the papers and their transcripts.