The Bill of Rights
© North Carolina Community College System
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The Americans declared their
independence from Great Britain in
1776.
In 1787, they adopted the
United States Constitution.
The Constitution told how their new
government would work.
Some states still thought the
Constitution did not say enough
about the rights of the people.
So in 1791 Congress added the first
ten amendments to the Constitution.
1.------------------2.-----------------3.-----------------4.-----------------5.-----------------6.------------------
7.-----------------8. ----------------9.-----------------10.------------------
These first ten amendments are called
The Bill of Rights.
They are individual rights that the
government cannot take away.
Amendment 1 gives the people
• freedom of religion or worship,
• freedom of speech,
• freedom of the press,
• freedom of assembly (freedom to
gather together peaceably), and
• freedom to petition the government.
Amendment 2 gives the people
• the right to keep and bear arms.
Amendment 3 limits the
quartering of soldiers.
Quartering is an old word. It is
rarely used today. It means to
house and feed.
In peace, a citizen
cannot be
required to house
or feed soldiers if
he does not want
to do so.
In war, any
requirement to
house or feed
soldiers must
follow the law.
Amendment 4 protects people
from unreasonable
search and
seizure.
Amendment 5
• gives a person the right
to due process of law,
• says a person may not be tried twice
for the same crime,
1
2
• says the court cannot require a
person to testify against himself, and
• says government must pay the owner
if it takes private property for public
use.
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Before you read Amendments 6 and 7,
you need to know a big difference in
criminal and civil crimes.
• A criminal wrong is
punishable by jail time.
• A civil wrong is not.
Amendment 6 gives a person in a
criminal prosecution
• the right to a speedy trial by jury,
• the right to be confronted by the
witnesses against him, and
• the right to legal counsel.
Amendment 7 gives the right
to trial by jury in civil suits.
Amendment 8 prohibits excessive
bail and cruel and unusual
punishment.
Amendment 9 says the people
have non-enumerated rights.
This means a right does not have to be
named in the Constitution for the
people to have that right.
Amendment 10 gives the states all
powers that the Constitution does not
give to the United States or
forbid to the states.
This ends our study of the Bill of
Rights.
Since the Bill of Rights, Congress
has added 17 more Amendments.
We will look at them in a later
lesson.
In the next lesson, we look at
• powers the Constitution gives the
federal government and
• powers the Constitution gives the
states.