United States Bill of Rights

For an earlier document of the same name, see the English Bill of Rights.

The Bill of Rights is the name given to the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. When the Constitution was submitted to the state legislatures for ratification, many of its opponents claimed that the Constitution did not include a bill of rights because the document was an aristocratic scheme to remove the rights of Americans. Supporters, known as Federalists, assured Americans that a Bill of Rights would be added by the first Congress.

Table of contents

1 Origin 2 The amendments 3 Transcription 3.1 Preamble 3.2 Amendment I 3.3 Amendment II 3.4 Amendment III 3.5 Amendment IV 3.6 Amendment V 3.7 Amendment VI 3.8 Amendment VII 3.9 Amendment VIII 3.10 Amendment IX 3.11 Amendment X 4 External Link

Origin

After the Constitution was ratified, the first Congress met in Federal Hall in New York City. Most of the delegates agreed that a Bill of Rights was needed and most of them believed that the same rights should be enumerated. The task of drafting the Bill of Rights fell to James Madison, who based his work on George Mason's earlier work, Virginia Declaration of Rights. It had been decided earlier that the Bill of Rights would be added to the Constitution as amendments (the list of rights was not included in the text of the Constitution because it was feared that changing the document's text would necessitate the rather painful process of re-ratifying the Constitution). The Bill of Rights includes rights such as freedom of speech, of press, of religion, and of assembly. It also includes a clause assuring the American people that the Bill of Rights should not be interpreted as a comprehensive list of all rights belonging to Americans, but rather a list of the most important rights. Twelve amendments were originally proposed in 1789, but two failed to pass at the same time as the remaining ten. These two amendments, originally numbered first and second, were drafted and submitted as: ''Article the first ... After the first enumeration required by the first article of the Constitution, there shall be one Representative for every thirty thousand, until the number shall amount to one hundred, after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall be not less than one hundred Representatives, nor less than one Representative for every forty thousand persons, until the number of Representatives shall amount to two hundred; after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall not be less than two hundred Representatives, nor more than one Representative for every fifty thousand persons.'\' Article the second ... No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened. Several important public officials, including James Madison and United States Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, retained the confusing practice of referring to each of the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights by the enumeration found in the first draft. The Bill of Rights passed the House easily in 1789. When it was sent to the Senate, an amendment was removed that forbade states from interfering with the rights of the people. Since records of the meetings of the Senate are not available to the public, no one can say for sure why this amendment was removed (later, in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment would be passed establishing the principle that states may not interfere with the rights granted to citizens by the federal government). On November 20 that year, New Jersey became the first state in the newly-formed Union to ratify these amendments. Other states followed, and the ten amendments were made law on December 15, 1791 with ratification by Virginia legislators. Soon, they became widely known as the Bill of Rights. The eleventh (or "Article the second" as quoted above) was belatedly ratified more than 200 years afterward in 1992 as the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the Constitution; it restricts the ability of Congress to raise its own pay. The twelfth (or "Article the first" as quoted above) is theoretically still pending, but unlikely to ever pass. It deals, as quoted above, with setting the size of the United States House of Representatives. Perhaps unaware that Virginia's approval six months earlier--given the primitive nature of communications in the 1700s--had made ten of the package of twelve already part of the Constitution, lawmakers in Kentucky ratified the entire set of twelve in June of 1792 during that commonwealth's initial month of statehood. The original copy of the Bill of Rights, which contains the text of all twelve proposed amendments, can be seen by the public today at the National Archives in Washington, DC.

The amendments

The amendments making up the Bill of Rights are:

• Amendment I - Freedom of speech, religion, peaceable assembly [1]\n* Amendment II - Right to keep and bear arms. [1]\n* Amendment III - Protection from quartering of troops. [1]\n* Amendment IV - Protection from unreasonable search and seizure. [1]\n* Amendment V - Due process, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, private property. [1]\n* Amendment VI - Trial by jury and other rights of the accused. [1]\n* Amendment VII- Civil trial by jury. [1] \n* Amendment VIII - Prohibition of excessive bail, cruel punishment. [1] \n* Amendment IX - Declares that other rights not listed may be protected. [1] \n* Amendment X - Grants residual power to the states and to the people. [1]

Transcription

The following text is a transcription of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution in their original form. These amendments were ratified December 15, 1791, and form what is known as the "Bill of Rights."

Preamble

\nCONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES Begun and held at the City of New York, on Wednesday, the Fourth of March, One Thousand Seven Hundred Eighty-nine. The Conventions of a number of the States having, at the Time of their Adopting the Constitution, expressed a Desire, in Order to prevent Misconstruction or Abuse of its Powers, that further declaratory and restrictive Clauses should be added: And as exceeding the Ground of public Confidence in the Government will best insure the beneficent Ends of its Institution, RESOLVED, by the Senate, and House of Representatives, of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, Two Thirds of both Houses concurring, That the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as Amendments to the Constitution of the United States: All, or any of, which Articles, when ratified by Three-Fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of the said Constitution, viz. Articles in Addition to, and Amendment of, the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the Fifth Article of the original Constitution.

Amendment I

\nCongress 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.

Amendment II

\nA 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.

Amendment III

\nNo 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.

Amendment IV

\nThe 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.

Amendment V

\nNo person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI

\nIn all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Amendment VII

\nIn suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII

\nExcessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX

\nThe enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X

\nThe powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

External Link

• The full text of the United States constitutional amendments\n* Teaching the Bill of Rights

\n\n **Category:Human rights instruments