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What does the bill of rights say?
What rights are protected by the bill of Rights?
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Why was the bill of rights important?
Mar 29, 2024 · The Bill of Rights says that the government cannot establish a particular religion and may not prohibit people or newspapers from expressing themselves. It also sets strict limits on the lengths that government may go to in enforcing laws .
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- Overview
- The Constitutional Convention
- Ratifying the Constitution
- The Bill of Rights
- What do you think?
The first ten amendments to the US Constitution guarantee citizens' essential freedoms and rights.
By the time the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia in 1787, it had become clear to many American leaders that a more powerful federal government was necessary in order to effectively deal with the challenges facing the young nation.
Under the Articles of Confederation, the central government had neither the power to raise taxes nor the authority to regulate interstate commerce. Additionally, there was no established mechanism through which states could adjudicate conflicts. Many of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention understood that the Articles of Confederation would need to be supplanted entirely, not merely revised.
The result of the Constitutional Convention was the United States Constitution. The Constitution created a federal government consisting of three separate branches in order to impose checks and balances on the powers of each branch.
•The executive branch would be headed by a president, who would be elected.
•The legislative branch would be composed of an upper house, the Senate, and a lower house—the House of Representatives. Representation in the House would be based on population—including counting enslaved men and women at the proportion of three to five for the purposes of representation and taxation. Each state would elect two representatives to the Senate.
•The judicial branch would consist of a Supreme Court and lower courts to interpret and apply the law.
Not everyone believed the new Constitution was a good idea. A number of individuals who had played important roles in the Revolution, like Samuel Adams and John Hancock, worried that a powerful federal government would inevitably become tyrannical and that the new Constitution would be merely replacing British tyranny with a homegrown variety. They worried that the president would usurp king-like powers and encroach upon the individual rights and freedoms of citizens.
In order for the Constitution to enter into force, it would have to be ratified by at least nine states, but several states threatened to refuse to ratify the document unless it included strong guarantees of individual rights and liberties. To this end, the delegates, led by Virginian James Madison set to work on drafting a list of checks on federal power that would ensure the full exercise of individual liberty.
The Bill of Rights consists of 10 amendments that explicitly guarantee certain rights and protections to US citizens by limiting the power of the federal government.
•The First Amendment prevents the government from interfering with the freedoms of speech, peaceable assembly, and exercise of religion.
•The Second Amendment declares that properly constituted militias are a safeguard of liberty and that the right to bear arms will be protected.
•The Third Amendment restricts the quartering of soldiers in private homes—an extremely contentious issue that had led the colonists to war with Great Britain.
•The Fourth Amendment protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures of private property.
•The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Amendments establish a variety of guarantees relating to legal proceedings and criminal justice, including the right to a trial by jury; protection against self-incrimination and double jeopardy, being tried twice for the same offense; the right to due process; prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment; and the right to face one’s accuser, obtain legal counsel, and be informed of all criminal charges.
Why did the delegates to the Constitutional Convention find it necessary to draft the Bill of Rights?
Do you think there are certain amendments in the Bill of Rights that are more important than others for the effective functioning of a democracy?
- [Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, Petition (1791)] (see explanation)
- [Right to Bear Arms (1791)] (see explanation)
- [Quartering of Troops (1791)] (see explanation)
- [Search and Seizure (1791)] (see explanation)
The United States Bill of Rights comprises the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution.Proposed following the often bitter 1787–88 debate over the ratification of the Constitution and written to address the objections raised by Anti-Federalists, the Bill of Rights amendments add to the Constitution specific guarantees of personal freedoms and rights, clear limitations on the ...
- September 25, 1789
- National Archives
- December 15, 1791
Apr 27, 2023 · The Ninth Amendment states that listing specific rights in the Constitution does not mean that people do not have other rights that have not been spelled out.
Oct 27, 2009 · Not only does its name anticipate the American document of a century later, the English Bill of Rights anticipates some of the American bill’s specific provisions—for example, the...
These first ten amendments to the Constitution became known as the Bill of Rights and still stand as both the symbol and foundation of American ideals of individual liberty, limited government, and the rule of law. Most of the Bill of Rights concerns legal protections for those accused of crimes.
