The Bill of Rights: all ten amendments compared
The Bill of Rights is the name for the first ten amendments to the Constitution, ratified together on December 15, 1791. They protect individual liberties and limit government power, and they came out of the ratification debate over whether the Constitution needed an explicit list of rights.
Seven of the ten have full pages here. The comparison below covers all ten so you can see what each protects in a sentence, then follow the links for the text, explanation and quiz.
What each amendment protects
Amendment 1
Religion, speech, press, assembly and petition
Government may not establish a religion or prohibit its free exercise, abridge speech or the press, or restrict peaceable assembly and petition.
Amendment 2
Keeping and bearing arms
Because a well regulated militia is necessary to a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
Amendment 3
Homes from the quartering of soldiers
In peacetime no soldier may be quartered in a house without the owner’s consent, and in wartime only as the law prescribes.
Text at the National Archives.
Amendment 4
Persons, houses, papers and effects
Bars unreasonable searches and seizures and requires warrants based on probable cause and particular descriptions.
Amendment 5
Due process and against self-incrimination
Grand jury indictment for serious crimes, no double jeopardy, no compelled self-incrimination, due process and just compensation for takings.
Amendment 6
Rights of the accused
Speedy and public trial, impartial jury, notice of charges, confrontation of witnesses, compulsory process and counsel.
Amendment 7
Jury trial in civil cases
Preserves the right to a jury in suits at common law where the amount in controversy exceeds twenty dollars.
Text at the National Archives.
Amendment 8
Bail, fines and punishments
No excessive bail, excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishments.
Amendment 9
Rights not listed
The enumeration of certain rights in the Constitution shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Text at the National Archives.
Amendment 10
Powers reserved to the states and the people
Powers not delegated to the United States nor prohibited to the states are reserved to the states or to the people.
Why the Bill of Rights exists
The original Constitution had a few rights protections, but no general bill of rights. A motion to add one failed at the Constitutional Convention in September 1787, and the omission became a leading Anti-Federalist objection, argued at length in Brutus II. Federalists, notably Hamilton in Federalist No. 84, replied that a list was unnecessary and might even imply that the government had powers it was never given.
Several state conventions ratified the Constitution while recommending amendments. James Madison then drafted amendments in the First Congress in 1789, and twelve were sent to the states. Ten were ratified by December 15, 1791. Originally the Bill of Rights limited only the federal government; beginning in the twentieth century, the Supreme Court has applied most of its guarantees to state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment.
Read both sides of the argument: Brutus II for a bill of rights and Federalist No. 84 against one.
Sources
- The Bill of Rights: A Transcription — National Archives
- The Bill of Rights — National Archives