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Thirty-three amendments to the Constitution of the United States have been proposed by the United States Congress and sent to the states for ratification since the Constitution was put into operation on March 4, 1789. Twenty-seven of those, having been ratified by the requisite number of states, are part of the Constitution.
- The 1st Amendment is about Freedom of speech. The notion that the government will not interfere with the ability of the people, the press, or religious groups to express their views or to protest in favor of them.
- The 2nd Amendment is about the right to bear arms. In the modern world, the continued right to own firearms and protect property according to the law.
- The 3rd Amendment is a law stating that citizens do not have to house soldiers in wartime or peacetime if they do not consent to do so.
- The 4th Amendment is about the right of the people of the United States to feel secure in their homes and possessions without fear of “unreasonable searches and seizures.”
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Article History. Fifth Amendment, amendment (1791) to the Constitution of the United States, part of the Bill of Rights, that articulates procedural safeguards designed to protect the rights of the criminally accused and to secure life, liberty, and property.
AmendmentYearDescription1791prohibits laws "respecting an ...1791protects the people's right to "keep and ...1791prohibits the involuntary quartering of ...1791forbids unreasonable searches and ...- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
- First Amendment
- Second Amendment
- Third Amendment
- Fourth Amendment
- Fifth Amendment
- Sixth Amendment
- Seventh Amendment
- Eighth Amendment
- Ninth Amendment
- 10th Amendment
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In order to secure support for the Constitution among Anti-Federalists, who feared it gave too much power to the national government at the expense of individual states, James Madison agreed to draft a Bill of Rights during the first session of Congress. Of these first 10 amendments, the First Amendment is arguably the most famous and most importan...
The text of the Second Amendment reads: “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.” During the Revolutionary War era, “militia” referred to groups of men who banded together to protect their communities, towns, coloniesand eventually states. Diff...
This amendment prohibits the quartering of militia in private homes in either war or peacetime without consent of the homes’ owners. As a reaction against past laws allowing British soldiers to take shelter in colonists’ homes whenever they wanted, the Third Amendmentdoesn’t appear to have much constitutional relevance today, as the federal governm...
The Fourth Amendment’s guarantee of “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures” also grew directly out of colonial Americans’ experiences prior to the Revolutionary War. Most notably, British authorities made use of general warrants, which were court orders that all...
In addition to the famous right to refuse to testify against oneself (or “plead the Fifth”), the Fifth Amendment establishes other key rights for defendants in criminal proceedings, including the need for formal accusation by a grand jury and the protection against double jeopardy, or being tried for the same crime twice. It also requires the feder...
The Sixth Amendment also deals with protecting the rights of people against possible violations by the criminal justice system. It ensures the right to a public trial by an impartial jury without a significant delay and gives defendants the right to hear the charges against them, call and cross-examine witnesses and retain a lawyer to defend them i...
With the Seventh Amendment, Madison addressed two Anti-Federalist concerns: that the document failed to require jury trials for civil (non-criminal) cases, and that it gave the Supreme Court the power to overturn the factual findings of juries in lower courts. Considered one of the most straightforward amendments in the Bill or Rights, the Seventh ...
The Eighth Amendment continues the theme of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments by targeting potential abuses on the part of the criminal justice system. In banning the requirement of “excessive bail,” the imposition of “excessive fines,” and the infliction of “cruel and unusual punishment,” but leaving the exact interpretation of these terms unclear, i...
During the debate that produced the Bill of Rights, skeptics argued that by listing such fundamental rights in the Constitution, the framers would be implying that the rights they did not list did not exist. Madison sought to allay these fears with the Ninth Amendment. It ensures that even while certain rights are enumerated in the Constitution, pe...
As the final amendment in the Bill of Rights, the 10th Amendment originally aimed to reassure Anti-Federalists by further defining the balance of power between the national government and those of the individual states. According to the 10th Amendment, the federal government’s powers are limited to those expressly given to it by the Constitution, w...
Learn about the 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution that have been ratified, from the Bill of Rights to the 19th Amendment. Find out their summaries, changes and significance, and how they address various challenges and issues.
Learn about the 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, from the Bill of Rights to the 27th Amendment. Explore the history, text, and significance of each amendment with Constitution Center.
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Since 1789 the Constitution has been amended 27 times; of those amendments, the first 10 are collectively known as the Bill of Rights and were certified on December 15, 1791. First Amendment (1791) Second Amendment (1791)
