Individual Rights and Civic Responsibilities

The Bill of Rights is another name for the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. James Madison wrote the amendments because several states argued that the U.S. Constitution should include stronger protection for citizens’ individual rights. Individual rights are the freedoms granted to every individual.

One of the main disagreements between the Federalists, those who wanted a strong central government, and the Anti-Federalists, those who favored a weaker central government, was that the Anti-Federalists wanted a Bill of Rights added to the Constitution to protect people’s individual rights. Federalists believed that the Constitution provided sufficient protection for individual liberties, but Anti-Federalists insisted that the Bill of Rights was necessary.

The Bill of Rights was based on several similar documents written at the time of its creation. The rights protected by the Bill of Rights are collectively known as civil liberties.

• The First Amendment protects the following rights:
  • Freedom of religion
  • Freedom of speech
  • Freedom of the press
  • Freedom of assembly
  • Right to petition the government regarding grievances
• The Second Amendment gives citizens the right to bear arms.
• The Third Amendment prohibits the government from quartering troops in private homes.
  • One of the biggest complaints of colonists prior to the Revolutionary War was that colonists had to bear the cost of quartering, or housing, British troops. If the British government ran out of room to house soldiers, the troops stayed in the homes of the colonists. The Third Amendment forbids this practice.
• The Fourth Amendment protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures.
• The Fifth Amendment protects citizens from criminal prosecution and punishment without due process of law. Due process means that all legal proceedings must follow the rule of law. The rule of law ensures fairness: laws must be well defined and established, and the people who enforce the laws must follow them strictly.
• The Sixth Amendment assures the right to a speedy trial by a jury of peers and the right to an attorney for criminal defendants who are indigent. Indigent means that a person does not have the funds to pay an attorney.
• The Seventh Amendment provides for trial by jury in civil cases.
• The Eighth Amendment protects citizens from cruel and unusual punishment.
• The Ninth Amendment ensures that all rights not enumerated, or explicitly mentioned, in the Constitution belong to the people.
• The Tenth Amendment assigns all powers not delegated to the federal or state government to either the states or the people.