The Bill of Rights comprises the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. It was mostly because of the efforts of James Madison, the representative from Virginia that our constitution has a Bill of Rights.
Madison originally opposed the idea because the Constitution did not grant the federal government the power to take away citizens rights. Madison had proposed that the amendments be incorporated into the body of the Constitution. Some argued by creating a list of people’s rights so that anything not on the list was not protected. (Wikipedia. org/United States Bill of Rights) Representatives had gone through such a long process creating the Constitution that they did not want to reopen it to change. Instead they suggested that corrective proposals be added separately.
The legislatures in New York and Virginia passed resolutions calling for the convention to propose amendments while several other states tabled the matter to consider in a future legislative session. Madison wrote the Bill of Rights partially in response to these actions from the States.
The concepts expressed in these amendments were earlier expressed in the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the Northwest Ordinance, the English Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta. (Wikipedia, United States Bill of Rights) Historian Gordon S. Wood writes that “there is no question that it was Madison’s personal prestige and his dogged persistence that saw the amendments through the Congress. There might have been a Federal Constitution without Madison but certainly no Bill of Rights.”
(Wood, Gordon S. (2009). Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815)
Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the right to peaceably assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The right of the people to keep and bear Arms.
Third Amendment
No Soldier shall in a time of peace be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner.
Fourth Amendment
The right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Fifth Amendment
The Fifth Amendment protects against being tried again on the same charges, the rights to due process, a grand jury screening and protection from selfincrimination. Sixth Amendment
The Right to a speedy and public trial, trial by an impartial jury, be informed of criminal charges, compel witnesses to appear in court and assistance of counsel.
Seventh Amendment
Guarantees a jury trial in federal civil cases with claims of more than twenty dollars.
Eighth Amendment
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Ninth Amendment
There are fundamental rights that exist outside the Constitution. The Constitution is not an explicit and exhaustive list of individual rights.
Tenth Amendment
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people.
The Bill of Rights had little judicial impact for the first 150 years of its existence; in the words of Gordon S. Wood, “After ratification, most Americans promptly forgot about the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Today, it has become the basis of many important decisions that impact people’s lives.” (Wikipedia, United States Bill of Rights)(Wood, Gordon S. (2009).
Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815)
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