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The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the US Constitution, protects American citizens’ specific rights and is modeled after the Magna Carta. It was created by anti-Federalists and ratified after the Constitution. It establishes important precedents such as freedom of speech and religion, due process, and protection from unreasonable searches and seizures. The Supreme Court interprets and defends the Constitution, and Congress can add amendments. The most recent amendment is the 27th, and two-thirds of both houses or three-quarters of states must agree for an amendment to pass.
The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution are more commonly referred to as the Bill of Rights because they establish specific rights of American citizens to ensure that those rights are not violated. It is modeled after many other similar documents, all of which owe their beginnings to Magna Carta, written in England in AD 1215. The Bill of Rights is considered an important part of the Constitution, and is also an integral part of popular culture; most Americans, for example, know what someone means when they “plead the fifth,” a reference to the Fifth Amendment, which protects people from self-crimination.
The Bill of Rights probably would not have existed at all were it not for the actions of the antifederalists. The antifederalists were strongly opposed to the Constitution, fearing that the president could quickly become a king ruling over a dispossessed people. While the Constitution establishes a framework for American government, it does not provide any specific rights for citizens. While the definition of “citizen” in the 1700s included only white men who owned property, the efforts these men took to protect themselves later helped women and people of color in their jobs achieve equality.
When it became clear that the Constitution would be ratified despite the efforts of the anti-Federalists, the men ensured that a list of amendments would be attached to the Constitution and sent for ratification. James Madison sat down to draft 12 amendments, and after cutting the first two, the Bill of Rights as it is now known was ratified.
This document sets many important precedents for American citizens, giving them the right to freedom of speech and religion, the right to assemble, and the right to petition the government. It also establishes due process rules to ensure that citizens are not tried twice for the same crime, punished unreasonably for crimes, or forced to incriminate themselves. It also protected citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures and restricted the military takeover of private homes, a serious problem during the Revolution. The document also specified that civil and military justice would use different codes and that powers not delegated to the federal government belonged to the states or the people.
As with any legal document, the Bill of Rights is subject to interpretation, as can be seen in the ongoing dispute over the content of the Second Amendment. The US Supreme Court is charged with interpreting and defending the Constitution, and Congress occasionally adds amendments to the Constitution as it deems necessary. As of 2007, the most recent amendment was the 27th, “Congressman’s Compensation.” For an amendment to pass, two-thirds of both houses must agree, or three-quarters of the states must ratify a proposed amendment as a group.
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