The Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the Constitution are called the Bill of Rights. They were ratified together in 1791, a few years after the Constitution itself. Several states had agreed to accept the Constitution only after supporters promised to add a written list of protected rights.

The Bill of Rights protects the basic rights of Americans, and most of its protections cover everyone living in the United States, not only citizens. These amendments work as limits on the government. They say what the government may not do to a person.

Here is what the first two say, in plain words. The First Amendment protects freedom of religion, speech, and the press. It also protects the right to gather peacefully and the right to ask the government to fix a problem. The Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms.

The next three continue the list. The Third Amendment says soldiers cannot be placed in your home in peacetime without your agreement. The Fourth protects you against unreasonable searches of your body, home, and property. The Fifth says the government must follow fair legal steps before it takes a person's life, liberty, or property. It also says nobody can be forced to give evidence against themselves.

The next five continue the list. The Sixth gives a person accused of a crime the right to a speedy public trial by jury and the help of a lawyer. The Seventh preserves the right to a jury in many non-criminal cases in federal court. The Eighth forbids excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishment. The Ninth says people keep other rights that are not written down in the list. The Tenth says powers not given to the federal government belong to the states or to the people.

Because of these amendments, certain rights belong to everyone living in the United States, not only to citizens. They include freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to petition the government, freedom of religion, and the right to bear arms.

The First Amendment is a single sentence, but it protects five separate freedoms: religion, speech, the press, assembly, and petition. If you are asked to name one right or freedom from the First Amendment, any one of those five is a correct answer.

Freedom of religion means you can practice any religion, or practice no religion at all. The government cannot set up an official national religion, and it cannot punish you for what you believe. Nobody is required to join a religion, and nobody can be stopped from joining one.

Freedom of speech means you can say what you think, including criticism of the government and of its leaders. Freedom of the press means newspapers, television, radio, and websites can report and comment without needing government permission. These two freedoms are what allow public argument about laws and officials.

Freedom of assembly means people may gather peacefully, for example for a meeting, a march, or a protest. Freedom to petition the government means you may ask the government to change something. You can write to your representative, sign a petition, join a campaign, or take the government to court.

These freedoms are not unlimited. Courts have decided that some things are not protected, such as a genuine threat of violence against a person. A city can also make rules about when and where a big march happens. But it cannot make those rules because it dislikes what the marchers believe. The important point is that limits are set by law and decided by courts, not by an official acting alone.

After the Bill of Rights, seventeen more amendments were added. Several of them are about who is allowed to vote. The original Constitution left voting rules almost entirely to the states, and in most states only white men could vote, often only those who owned property.

Four amendments changed who is allowed to vote. The 15th Amendment (1870) said the right to vote cannot be denied because of race or color, or because a person had been a slave. The 19th Amendment (1920) said it cannot be denied because of sex, so women could vote.

A poll tax was a fee some states charged before letting a person vote. The 24th Amendment (1964) banned it in federal elections. The 26th Amendment (1971) lowered the voting age, so citizens eighteen and older can vote.

One more amendment belongs here, although it is not only about voting. The 14th Amendment (1868) is about who is a citizen. A person born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction is a citizen. A person who becomes a citizen through naturalization is a citizen too. Each of them is also a citizen of the state where they live. The 14th Amendment says it in these words: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." In that old wording, "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" means under the authority of United States law. That is why a child born here to a foreign diplomat is not a citizen. "Wherein they reside" means the state where the person lives.

The 14th Amendment also limits what a state may do. A state must treat people equally under its laws. A state must follow fair legal steps before it takes a person's life, liberty, or property.

The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were all added just after the Civil War, between 1865 and 1870, in the years called Reconstruction. The 13th ended slavery. Together the three of them made formerly enslaved people citizens and gave Black men the vote, at least on paper.

Having the right on paper and being able to use it were not the same thing. For many years some states used poll taxes, reading tests, and other barriers to keep Black citizens away from the ballot box. That is why further amendments and later federal laws were needed, and it is why the 24th Amendment banned the poll tax by name.

Today any United States citizen who is eighteen years old or older may vote, including for President. Each state runs its own elections and keeps its own list of voters, so a citizen normally has to register before voting.