After over five years of effort, and with bipartisan and nonpartisan support(including some critically important help from Ernest Hancock of Freedom’s Phoenix), the Bill of Rights Monument Project at MyBillofRights.org is proud and excited to announce we’ve received final approval on the site and design of what will be America’s first Bill of Rights Monument, to be sited on the Arizona Capitol Mall. Our target dedication date is December 15th (Bill of Rights Day), 2012.

We estimate that over 1,000,000 of Arizona’s schoolchildren will visit the Capito Mall during the monument’s projected minimum lifespan, where they, along with millions more visitors of all ages, will get to experience their rights in stone. This is the unique inspiration and multi-generational legacy that only monuments can provide

The monument, designed by one of America’s leading stone artisans, Joseph Kincannon, will feature ten individually shaped and sculpted limestone monoliths, ranging from 7’ to 8 1/2’ tall. The monoliths will arc across the crest of our hilltop site in Wesley Bolin Plaza, which curves along the path to the Vietnam Memorial. The text of each amendment will be sandblasted deeply into the contours of the limestone, on the side facing the pathway and the Capitol complex to the west.

 

The visual impact of these ten free-standing monoliths - each unique, yet clearly connected to the others; massive and grounded, yet thrusting upward - speaks to the enduring destiny of a people bound together and lifted up by their passionate embrace of individual liberty.

 

 

 

Within days of getting final approval, MyBillofRights.org received a

$25,000 matching challenge grant,good until the end of this year.

This means every dollar we raise between now and December 31st,up to $25,000, will be doubled, allowing us to order the stone so that our team at Kincannon Studioscan schedule the three months needed to sculpt the monoliths.

 

We need your generosity during this holiday season. Won’t you add MyBillofRights.org to your Christmas list? To contribute, in your name or as a gift in the name of a family member or friend, go here, or check the Giving Levels on our website first,to see what added benefits your contribution qualifies you for.

 

MyBillofRights.org is a 501(c)3 charitable organization, so your contributions are fully tax deductible. We have an all-volunteer staff, and do not solicit or accept public funding,relying on private contributions from individual donors.

 

If you are considering one of the larger levels of giving, the Arizona Community Foundation has agreed to act as a fiscal sponsor for this project, to provide donors unfamiliar with MyBillofRights.org an extra level of trust and accountability. Our project listing on their website will be completed by December 10th.

 

 

Help us celebrate the enduring genius of our Bill of Rights by bringing America’s first Bill of Rights monument to the Arizona Capitol Mall in 2012!

Chris Bliss Executive Director MyBillofRights.org