Bill of Rights Sentence Examples

The
Bill of Rights
is the document that contains the first 10 amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which state the basic rights of all American citizens.

The Constitution of the United States is the document that serves as the fundamental law of the country. An amendment is a change to something. An amendment to the Constitution is any text added to the original document since its ratification in 1788. The Constitution has been amended 27 times in American history.

The
Bill of Rights
contains the first 10 amendments. While the rest of the Constitution states what the government can do, the
Bill of Rights
says what it cannot do and, as a result, it guarantees basic rights to all Americans. More detailed information of the specifics of each amendment can be found on their own pages, but here are some of the rights stated in the
Bill of Rights:

• Freedom of speech: Americans are free to express their opinions and criticize the government without fear of retaliation from the government.
• Freedom of religion: Americans are free to practice any religion they want. There is no state religion in the United States.
• Right to bear arms: The Second Amendment allows Americans to own weapons when they follow local and state laws.

The amendments in the
Bill of Rights
have been involved in many Supreme Court cases and have limited the government’s power. Today, many of the rights and freedoms that Americans cherish are still protected by law in the
Bill of Rights.

The first records of
bill of rights
come from around 1689 and refer to a collection of rights under England’s monarchy. The first records of
Bill of Rights
to refer to a potential list of basic rights of American citizens come from around 1787, during the Constitutional Convention.

The original text of the US Constitution states what powers the federal government has and how it is to be organized. The text doesn’t say, however, what protected rights American citizens have or what the government is not able to do. The Antifederalists, who supported a limited government, were worried that the government would be too powerful and be capable of tyranny if the law did not place limits on it. The Federalists argued that a
bill of rights
was unnecessary because, to them at least, it was obvious that Americans had basic rights that the government couldn’t take away. The Federalists also feared that any list of rights would be too small and that it would be assumed that Americans only had the rights that were specifically stated in the Constitution.

During the debates surrounding the creation of the Constitution, the Antifederalists, such as Thomas Jefferson, clearly opposed any constitution that didn’t state what rights citizens had that the government could not deny them. Without Antifederalist support, there were not enough votes in Congress to pass the bill. So, the two sides agreed that the Constitution would be ratified under the condition that the
Bill of Rights
would be immediately added to it.

By December 1791, the states had ratified 10 of 12 amendments Congress had passed. These 10 amendments became the
Bill of Rights
and were added to the Constitution.

One of the amendments originally stated in Madison’s proposal was passed by Congress in 1789 but not ratified by the states until 1992! What is now the Twenty-seventh Amendment was passed by Congress alongside the amendments that make up the
Bill of Rights, but it failed to achieve ratification by the states when it was originally submitted.

Pictured above is the
Bill of Rights, which is located in the National Archives Museum, alongside the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Most Americans learn about the
Bill of Rights
in school. Americans are very protective of the rights given to them by this important document.

I’m a historian and I can tell you, that’s in the bill of rights somewhere

— Social Jedi Warrior (@starwarsnerdPKP) June 28, 2021

James Madison — fourth American President, “Father of the Constitution,” and chief author of the Bill of Rights — died on this day in 1836. LibraryThing members have cataloged 472 books that he owned. You can explore his Legacy Library here:https://t.co/oKaKkZxXCI pic.twitter.com/OxmzQSi3lX

— LibraryThing.com (@LibraryThing) June 28, 2021

True or False?

The
Bill of Rights
contains the first twelve amendments to the US Constitution.