Omar Bennett
The United States Bill of Rights comprises the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. The amendments were proposed by James Madison, then a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, to address the objections raised by Anti-Federalists. The Anti-Federalists wanted power to remain with state and local governments and favoured a bill of rights to safeguard individual liberty. The amendments of the Bill of Rights add to the Constitution specific guarantees of personal freedoms, such as freedom of speech, the right to publish, practice religion, possess firearms, and assemble, among other natural and legal rights.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of Amendments proposed | 12 |
| Number of Amendments ratified | 10 |
| First 10 Amendments | Bill of Rights |
| Purpose | Limit government power, protect individual liberties |
| Examples of Rights | Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from unreasonable government intrusion, right to bear arms, right to assemble, right to due process, right to trial by jury |
| Amendments outside the Bill of Rights | 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 18th, 21st, 27th |
| Number of original engrossed copies of the Bill of Rights in existence | Several |
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What You'll Learn
The Bill of Rights and the US Constitution
The Bill of Rights forms part of the US Constitution and comprises its first ten amendments. The amendments were proposed by James Madison, then a member of the US House of Representatives, to address concerns raised by Anti-Federalists and to limit the powers of the federal government. Madison initially opposed the idea of a bill of rights, arguing that the federal government's powers were "few and defined" and that any powers not listed in the Constitution resided with the states or the people. However, he eventually agreed to support adding a bill of rights to secure the ratification of the Constitution.
The Bill of Rights was proposed by the First Congress of the United States on September 25, 1789, as twelve amendments to the Constitution. Ten of these amendments were ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures on December 15, 1791, and form the first ten amendments of the Constitution. The ratified amendments include the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech, religion, and the press, and the Second Amendment, which protects the right to keep and bear arms. Other amendments in the Bill of Rights provide protections for people accused of crimes, such as the right to a fair trial and protection against self-incrimination.
The Ninth Amendment states that the listing of specific rights in the Constitution does not deny other rights that are not explicitly mentioned. The Tenth Amendment reinforces this by stating that the federal government only has the powers delegated to it by the Constitution, with all other powers being reserved for the states or the people. These amendments were included to address concerns that a bill of rights would only protect the rights that were explicitly listed.
The Bill of Rights has been influential in shaping later amendments to the Constitution, such as the Fourteenth Amendment, which has been used to apply portions of the Bill of Rights to state and local governments. The Bill of Rights has also been influential in the development of other documents, including the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the English Bill of Rights, and the Magna Carta.
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The First Amendment
The text of the First Amendment is as follows:
> "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
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The Second Amendment
> "A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed."
In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to keep a gun for self-defence. This ruling was further strengthened in McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010), where the Court clarified that the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
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The Ninth Amendment
In Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), the Supreme Court held that the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments support a right to privacy, which is not explicitly enumerated in the Bill of Rights. Justice Arthur Goldberg wrote that the Ninth Amendment was sufficient authority to support the Court's finding of a fundamental right to marital privacy.
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The Fourteenth Amendment
> All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
The most commonly used and litigated phrase in the amendment is "equal protection of the laws," which has been central to landmark cases such as Brown v. Board of Education (racial discrimination), Roe v. Wade (reproductive rights), and Bush v. Gore (election recounts).
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Frequently asked questions
The Bill of Rights is one of the three founding documents of the United States, comprising the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. It was proposed in 1789, following a bitter debate over the ratification of the Constitution, and written by James Madison to address objections raised by Anti-Federalists. The amendments add to the Constitution specific guarantees of personal freedoms, such as freedom of speech, the right to publish, practice religion, possess firearms, and assemble, while also limiting the powers of the government.
The Constitution is the foundational document of the United States government, written in 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by delegates from 12 states. It establishes a federal system with a national government composed of three separated powers, with reserved and concurrent powers of states. The Bill of Rights, on the other hand, is a series of amendments to the Constitution that outline specific protections of individual liberties and freedoms.
The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution because the Constitution lacked explicit limits on government power. Federalists advocated for a strong national government, while Anti-Federalists wanted power to remain with state and local governments and favoured a bill of rights to safeguard individual liberty. James Madison, then a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, crafted a series of proposals to address these concerns, which ultimately became the first ten amendments of the Constitution, or the Bill of Rights.
