When the Constitution was sent to the states in 1787, it contained few explicit protections for individual rights. Anti-Federalists made the omission a central objection, and several states ratified only with the understanding that amendments would follow. James Madison, who had doubted the need for a bill of rights, introduced proposals in the First Congress in June 1789. Congress sent twelve amendments to the states, and ten were ratified in 1791.
This guide walks through each of the ten amendments, explains what it protects and how courts apply it today, and describes how the Bill of Rights came to bind state and local governments.
Federalists such as Alexander Hamilton argued that a bill of rights was unnecessary because the new government had only limited, listed powers, and even dangerous because it might imply that unlisted rights were unprotected. Anti-Federalists answered that broad powers such as the necessary and proper clause could be used against liberty. Madison's compromise drew on state declarations of rights and the English Bill of Rights of 1689, and the Ninth Amendment was added to address the Federalist worry directly.
The First Amendment protects five freedoms: religion, through both the establishment and free exercise clauses, speech, the press, peaceable assembly, and petitioning the government. Today courts protect even offensive speech unless it falls into narrow categories such as incitement to imminent lawless action, true threats, or defamation, and they treat political spending, lobbying, and press reporting on government as core protected activity.
In Barron v. Baltimore in 1833, the Supreme Court held that the Bill of Rights restrained only the federal government. After the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 forbade states to deprive anyone of liberty without due process, the Court gradually applied, or incorporated, most of the Bill of Rights to the states, beginning with free speech in 1925 and accelerating in the 1960s. Only a few provisions, including the grand jury requirement, the Seventh Amendment, and the Third Amendment, have not been formally incorporated. Debates over how to interpret these rights, by original meaning or evolving standards, shape nearly every major case.
Four amendments protect people in the criminal justice system. The Fourth bars unreasonable searches and seizures and generally requires warrants. The Fifth requires grand juries for serious federal charges, bars double jeopardy and compelled self-incrimination, guarantees due process, and requires compensation when government takes property. The Sixth guarantees a speedy, public jury trial, the right to confront witnesses, and a lawyer. The Eighth bars excessive bail and fines and cruel and unusual punishment. Landmark cases such as Mapp, Miranda, and Gideon applied these rights nationwide in the 1960s.
The Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms, which the Supreme Court in 2008 held to be an individual right and in 2022 said must be judged against the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation. The Third Amendment bars quartering soldiers in private homes in peacetime without consent. Rarely litigated, it is often cited with the Fourth Amendment as evidence of the special protection the Constitution gives the home.
The Seventh Amendment preserves jury trials in federal civil cases and has recently limited how agencies impose penalties. The Ninth declares that listing some rights does not deny others retained by the people. The Tenth reserves to the states or the people the powers not delegated to the federal government, the textual anchor of American federalism.
See the rest of the amendments in all 27 amendments, explained, read the original document in the Constitution, article by article, or see how amendments are adopted in how the Constitution is amended.