I apologize if this breaks subreddit rules, but I saw that the original Bill of Rights outlined by Madison had 20 amendments, until the House cut it down to 17, then the Senate to 12, and finally the states to the 10 we know today.
I'd really like to read more on it. Thanks!
This full text of Madison's speech to Congress proposing the amendments is long, but fascinating. You can recognize in his proposals almost the exact language that ended up in the Bill of Rights. For instance, from Madison's speech:
No soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor at any time, but in a manner warranted by law.
And the actual text of the 3rd Amendment:
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
His proposals are not numbered, so I can't say for certain that there are 20 here. It depends on how you count them - notwithstanding that they ultimately ended up in the same Amendment, should securing the freedoms of assembly and of the press count as 1 or 2 amendments?
Incidentally, one of the 12 in the original winnowing down to 10 eventually was ratified as proposed 202 years later as the 27th Amendment (regarding increases to Congressional salary). Madison discusses that proposal in his speech as well.