The United States Bill of Rights comprises the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing rights such as freedom of speech, religion and the press, the right to bear arms, protection against unreasonable search and seizure, and due process of law. Congress proposed twelve amendments on 25 September 1789; ten were ratified by three-fourths of the states on 15 December 1791. James Madison, who had argued against a bill of rights during the ratification debates, drafted the amendments in the First Congress after Anti-Federalist critics made adoption a condition of broader acceptance of the Constitution.
Facts
Key ProvisionThe first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1791, enumerate protections against federal government power: freedom of speech, press, religion and assembly in the First Amendment, the right to bear arms in the Second, protection against unreasonable search and compelled self-incrimination in the Fourth and Fifth, the right to a speedy public jury trial in the Sixth, and, in the Tenth, a reservation to the states and the people of powers the Constitution does not delegate to the federal government. 1 Dates
AdoptedRatified by the requisite three-fourths of state legislatures (Virginia being the deciding state); the amendments had been proposed by Congress on 25 September 1789. Classification
Document Type Original Language Connections
Associated With
Several of its guarantees, against excessive bail and cruel punishment among them, prefigure protections the American Bill of Rights later enumerated.
Source Bill of Rights, British History (Britannica)
Drafted By
Madison drafted the amendments in the First Congress, despite having argued during the ratification debates that a bill of rights was unnecessary.
Source Bill of Rights Ratified: December 15, 1791 (Gilder Lehrman Institute)
Influenced
Source Bill of Rights Ratified: December 15, 1791 (Gilder Lehrman Institute)
Source Bill of Rights Ratified: December 15, 1791 (Gilder Lehrman Institute)
Sources
1. Bill of Rights Ratified: December 15, 1791 (Gilder Lehrman Institute)
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American HistoryDocument type, description
The United States Bill of Rights comprises the first ten amendments to the U.S.
- Part Of: United States Constitution
- Drafted By: James Madison
- Influenced: Majority Rule and Minority Rights
- Influenced: Rule of Law
View the Source 2. Wikidata: United States Bill of Rights
- Wikidata Q862765, class allow-list match, case-insensitive label variant (w-bbfill-smallsix2-0926/resolve_ci.ps1)
- Wikidata Q862765 via P407 (w-bbfill-smallsix2-0926/propfill_varchar.ps1)
View the SourceBill of Rights, British History (Britannica)
Encyclopaedia BritannicaAssociated With: English Bill of Rights 1689View the Source U.S. National Archives: Bill of Rights: Transcript
U.S. National ArchivesIn Group: Constitutions of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Page textQuote, In Group: Constitutions of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Page text
Ten of the proposed 12 amendments were ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures on December 15, 1791.
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