United States Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791, protect individual liberties and constrain federal power.

United States Constitution: The supreme law of the United States, establishing its federal government and defining its powers and limits. The Bill of Rights consists of amendments to this founding document.
First Amendment to the United States Constitution: The constitutional amendment protecting religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. It groups several central protections for expression and conscience.
Philadelphia Convention: The 1787 meeting that drafted the Constitution of the United States. The convention produced a Constitution without a separate bill of rights.
Barron v. Baltimore: The 1833 Supreme Court case holding that the Bill of Rights did not restrict state governments. It established the original federal-only scope of the amendments’ protections.
English Bill of Rights: The 1689 English statute limiting royal authority and affirming parliamentary rights and certain individual protections. It offered a prominent historical model for written limits on government.
Constitutional amendment: A formal change or addition to a constitution made through a specified legal process. The Bill of Rights became law through the Constitution’s amendment process.
Second Amendment to the United States Constitution: The constitutional amendment protecting the right to keep and bear arms. It protects arms-bearing while referring to a well-regulated militia.
Federalist–Anti-Federalist debate: The political dispute over ratifying the proposed United States Constitution and the powers it gave the national government. Anti-Federalist objections made explicit protections a central ratification issue.
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution: The 1868 constitutional amendment establishing birthright citizenship and prohibiting states from denying due process or equal protection. Its Due Process Clause later supported applying most Bill of Rights protections to states.
Magna Carta: A 1215 charter that constrained the English king and helped shape later traditions of legal rights. It represents an earlier source of ideas about limiting executive power through law.

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