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Previous Issues > December 2006 > Way Back When > The Bill Of Rights
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 Way Back When
The Bill of Rights
Way back when, on December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights was adopted and ratified by the United States. However, the Constitution of the United States, drafted in 1787, did not originally contain a bill or rights. This alarmed many Americans. They worried that without a bill of rights, the new government might one day take away some of the freedoms that they had worked so hard to win. The Bill of Rights are actually the first 10 amendments (which are corrections or additions made to improve a document) to the Constitution.
Thomas Jefferson was one of the people that was concerned about protecting the rights of the people, so he wrote to his friend James Madison who was also the main creator of the Constitution that A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth. James Madison drafted the Bill of Rights in 1789. The document originally contained 12 amendments, but the first two were not ratified at first. The third through twelfth amendments came to be known as The Bill of Rights and were ratified by three-fourths of the states and came into effect on December 15, 1791.
The United States Bill of Rights was based on earlier statements of rights, such as the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights and the Virginia Declaration of Rights. The Bill of Rights offers the people of the United States the following protections:
First Amendment Freedom of speech, press, religion, peaceable assembly and to petition the government.
Second Amendment Right for the people to keep and bear arms, as well as to maintain a militia.
Third Amendment
Protection from quartering of troops. This means that soldiers cannot take over a persons home without permission of the owner.
Fourth Amendment Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.
Fifth Amendment Guarantees due process of law, protection from double jeopardy and self-incrimination and provides that private property can not be taken for public use without fair compensation.
Sixth Amendment Provides for a speedy and public trial by jury and other rights of the accused.
Seventh Amendment Civil trial by jury for common law suits.
Eighth Amendment Prohibition of excessive bail, as well as cruel and unusual punishment.
Ninth Amendment Protection of rights not specifically named in the Bill of Rights.
Tenth Amendment Powers of states and people.
Source: Bill of Rights. Britannica Student Encyclopedia, Encyclopdia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/ebi/article-197447; The National Archives, Charters of Freedom.
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