When the Bill of Rights was ratified, 12 amendments were originally proposed by Congress on September 25, 1789. Out of these, 10 amendments were ratified by the states on December 15, 1791, and they became known as the Bill of Rights. The two amendments that were not initially ratified included one that eventually became the 27th Amendment much later in 1992, and one that remains unratified to this day.

James Madison initially proposed 9 amendments, which were later reworked into the 12 amendments sent to the states for ratification. So effectively, 12 proposed changes were considered at the time of the Bill of Rights ratification, of which 10 were accepted and ratified then.